ABSTRACT
Research about preschoolers’ social skills is an early effort to detect deficiencies before any intervention can be implemented. Parents affect the development of children, including social skills, through parenting styles. However, there was little information regarding preschoolers’ level of social skills and its association with parenting styles in Malaysia. Thus, this study aims to examine the level of preschoolers’ social skills and how it relates to parenting styles. The respondents consisted of 339 preschoolers in Hulu Langat, Selangor, and their parents. The stratified random sampling method was used and the questionnaires are distributed to parents through the children. Descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted. The findings show that the level of social skills of preschool children in Malaysia is average. The authoritative style is most frequently adopted compared to authoritarian and permissive styles. There is a significant positive correlation between paternal and maternal authoritative style with social skills. Only maternal authoritarian style has a significant negative relationship with preschoolers’ social skills. These findings highlight the importance of enhancing preschoolers’ social skills by intervention in the problematic dimension of social skills as a first step.
