Social Skills Development Among Adolescents with Mild Intellectual Disability: Predictive Factor Analysis

Effective interpersonal relationships and communication with community members necessitate the development of appropriate social skills. The theory underpinning the study was the Inoculation Theory. This study investigated the predictive influence of resistance to peer influence, self-esteem, and gender on social skills development among adolescents with mild intellectual disability. A total of 93 (male = 52%; female = 48%; Mean age = 16.2; SD = 2.03) adolescents with mild intellectual disability were selected from special schools and a rehabilitation centre as respondents for the study. The instrument used for data collection was tagged "Resistance to peer influence, self-esteem and social skills of adolescents with intellectual disability." The internal consistency of the resistance to peer influence scale, self-esteem scale, and social skills scale was Cronbach’s > 0.70, 0.62, and 0.74 respectively. The scale was pilot tested to determine its suitability for participants and yielded a Cronbach’s α of 0.73. The findings revealed that resistance to peer influence, self-esteem, and gender had a significant positive relationship with social skills development in adolescents with mild intellectual disability. However, the relationship with gender was the least significant, while that of self-esteem was the highest. Furthermore, there was a significant joint contribution of peer influence, self-esteem, and gender to the social skills of respondents. Based on these findings, proper consideration must be given to peer influence, self-esteem, and gender so that social skills development can be enhanced among adolescents with mild intellectual disability.