The effects of life skills education program on problem behaviors and social skills of 4-year-old preschoolers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Life Skill Program on 4-year-old preschoolers. The problem behaviors and social skills of the preschoolers made up the dependent variable while “Life Skills Program” was the independent variable in the study in which pretest-posttest design was used with an experimental approach. A total of 62 four-year-olds were divided into experimental (N=31) and control (N=31) groups. During 2012 Fall and 2013 Spring, the participants were selected from two state-funded preschools with random cluster sampling. Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS-2), which was developed by W. Merril in 1994 and adapted to Turkish children by Alisinanoğlu and Özbey (2009), was used as data collection tool. The dependent t-test and independent t-test were used for statistical comparisons. The results indicated that the experimental group to which the life skill program implemented had statistically higher scores for Social Cooperation, Social Interaction and Social Independence compared to the pretest results while there was a meaningful decrease in their Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, Antisocial and Self-Centered Problem Behaviors. The effects of the program lasted for 12 weeks. The Life Skills Program seemed to have positive effects on 4 year-old preschoolers as it helped them reduce problem behaviors and improve their social skills.