Social Skills and Psychological Suffering
F. Biasotto Feitosa1
1Federal University of Rondonia, Department of Psychology, Brazil
The nature of the associations between interpersonal relationships and mental health is not clear yet. The aim of this study was to explore the correlations between social skills and neuroticism. The subjects that participated in this survey study were 1.031 college students of both genders (mean age=24,5; standard deviation=6,9) who self-evaluated their social behaviour and neuroticism. Results show significative and negative correlations between social skills and neuroticism (rs=-0,078 to rs=-0,416). Social skills of Conversation and social fluency appear as the stronger correlation with neuroticism (rs=-0,354, p<0,001), and Depression was the subscale of neuroticism that more closely had correlated with the social repertoire (rs=-0,416, p<0,001). It was concluded that the deficit of social skills tends to be accompanied by psychological suffering. The theorical and practical implications for psychological work in mental health were discussed.