Research on Social Anxiety Level and Communication Skills of Secondary School Students

Mustafa KOǹ; Aykut DÜNDAR²

^1,2Adıyaman University, School of Physical Education and Sports, Adıyaman, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of his study is to examine the social anxiety level and communication skills of secondary school students in terms of some variables. A total of 382 students, 192 males and 190 females attending the secondary education institutions of the province Adıyaman in the academic year 2016-2017, participated in the study. The scale developed by Özbay and Palancı (2001) to measure the social anxiety level of the students and the scale developed by Korkut (1997) to measure communication skills were used. In the analysis of the data, the statistical package program was used. T-test and variance analysis (ANOVA) were used in independent groups, Post Hoc Tukey test was used for the differences between groups and Pearson correlation test was used for finding relationship; error level is obtained as 0,01 and 0,05. As a result of the research, there was no significant difference was found in social anxiety and communication skills in terms of the students' genders and the fact that whether they do sports or not. A statistically significant relationship was found between the communication skills of the individuals and their social anxiety scores in the strong negative direction. It was seen that the students with more communication skills had lower social anxiety scores. A statistically significant relationship was found in the strong positive direction between the students' social anxiety level and social anxiety sub-scale scores. A statistically significant relationship was found in the positive direction between the students' communication skills and communication skills sub-scale scores.

Keywords: Metaphor, Health, Student.

1. Introduction

Adolescents enter a wider social environment in school and other social activities not limited to the family and they start to enter different environments in which they initiate and sustain new relationships. It is both a developmental task and a source of anxiety for the adolescent to show themselves in different social environments, to establish close relation with the opposite gender, to achieve academic success, to choose a profession, to prepare for a career and business life and to succeed in matters such as choosing a spouse (Eren, 2006).

Communication has an important role in human life. By nature, people are in need of communicating with other people (Cüceloğlu, 2000). Through communication, people make sense of the messages by conveying the messages they want to each other and they give feedback to the other individual. The other person also passes through the same process and gives a feedback. This transmission network creates communication (Dökmen, 1994).

Social anxiety is a type of anxiety that is expected to be experienced in relationships. Individuals experiencing social anxiety show tension and it is very difficult for them to intensify attention on a certain topic. These individuals are aware that the situation they are experiencing comes to existence in social environments. Although tension is fairly normal before a date or a meeting, the distinctive point in here is that it is continuous and impairs the individual's daily functioning (Burger, 2006); (Cağlar et al., 2012).

Through communication, a person becomes part of a society and gets over loneliness. While individuals express desired behaviours through communication, he or she may want other people in society to act on his or her wish and may accomplish this. The communication form of a person may vary according to the existing environment. In this way, the person will have adapted to the environment (Urgüplü, 2006).

In the behavioural changes teachers try to create in their students, in the provision of learning, communication skills come to the forefront. Students benefit from the communication skills of their teachers while acquiring new knowledge and skills through learning (Ergin and Birol, 2000).

In addition to being the totality of some physical activities, sports also express a concept that helps the individual to socialize by giving people a sense of personal and social identity and group membership (Küçük and Koç, 2004). Sports is interwoven with many sciences that concern humans. Sports, a multidisciplinary science, is closely related to the field of psychology. Along with the improvements in sports psychology, sports and personality have been one of the most studied topics in recent years (Oda, 2014).

If sports, which is a form of education, is considered as a physical and spiritual education, it is seen that sport and education are the same. Sports is of great importance in terms of both physical development and mental and social health of the individual (Güçlü, 2000). Being healthier, hopeful, assertive and socially better of young people, who are the guarantee of the future, depend on many causes. These can be accomplished by performing the activities of arts, cultural centres, music, conversation and sports etc (Ozer, 2017).

2. Method

 The research was conducted using a screening model in order to determine the relationship between social anxiety level and communication skills of secondary school students.

2.1. Study Group

The sample of the study consist of a total of 382 (190 females, 192 males) students selected with simple unselected sampling method and studying at the secondary schools in Adıyaman province in 2016-2017 academic year.

2.2. Data Collection

The data of the study were obtained using the Communication Skills Questionnaire, Social Anxiety Scale and Personal Information Form. The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants were obtained by the personal information form prepared by the researcher.

2.2.1. Social Anxiety Scale

The scale developed by Özbay and Palancı (2001) was used to identify students' social anxiety problems. The social anxiety scale has three sub-dimensions named as social avoidance, anxiety of evaluation (criticism) and individual sense of worthlessness. Anxiety about social avoidance, communication and social interaction include various conditions or symptoms of social anxiety such as difficulty in speaking, reluctance, difficulty in getting involved in the crowd, living anxiety about authority,  fear of being watched, seen by others. Anxiety of evaluation includes concerns such as being negatively evaluated by others, fear of being humiliated in front of others and rejection. Sense of worthlessness dimension reflects the situations and contents such as feeling self-worthless, not accepting personal characteristics, not trusting oneself, not being satisfied with oneself, feeling unsuccessful.

2.2.2. Communication Skills Scale

The scale developed by Korkut (1997) was used to measure the Communication Skills of the students. It was developed as a 5-point Likert type with a total of 25 items. The increase in the scores indicates that communication skills are increasing. The sample has four sub-dimensions; Basic Communication Skills, The Self Expression Skill, Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills, Ability of Willingness to Establish Communication.

2.3. Data Analysis

In the analysis of data obtained from Communication Skills Scale and Social Anxiety Scale SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 18.0 statistical package program was used. Before testing students' communication skills and their level of social anxiety according to various demographic variables, whether the research data carry the normal distribution feature was subjected to normality test. Since the data showed normal distribution characteristics as a result of the normality test, parametric analysis methods were used. Statistical significance was evaluated as p<0.05 for all tests.

3. Findings

In the study, the relationship between social anxiety and communication skills was examined. Whether the level of social anxiety and communication skills of the individuals differ according to the gender, sport and educational status of the parents were examined with the SPSS (18.00) statistical program. While statistically One Way ANOVA and differences between groups were examined with Post Hoc Tukey test, bivariate Pearson correlation method was used to find the relationship.

Table-1. Distribution of Students, Participating in the Study, According to Demographic Characteristics

Variables		n	%
Genders	Male	192	50,3
	Female	190	49,7
Grades	1th  grade	64	16,8
	2 th Grade	182	47,6
	3 th Grade	108	28,3
	4 th Grade	28	7,3
Schools	Regular High Schools	28	7,3
	Sports High Schools	86	22,5
	Anatolian High Schools	158	41,4
	Private High Schools	110	28,8
Doing Sports	Sports	166	43,5
	Non-sports	216	56,5
Families Member Doing Sports	Sports	100	26,2
	Non-sports	282	73,8
Father's Educational Status	Primary School,	96	25,1
	Secondary School	112	29,3
	High School	112	29,3
	University	62	16,2
Mother's Educational Status	Primary School,	182	47,6
	Secondary School	92	24,1
	High School	78	20,4
	University	30	7,9

Source: Author's field work

As shown in Table 1, (190) 49.7% of the participants are female, (192) 50.3% are male. 16.8% of participants are 1st grade students, %47.6 are 2nd grade, 28.3% are 3rd grade and 7.3% are 4th grade students. 7.3% of the students are studying at regular high schools, 22.5% are at sports high schools, 41.4% are in Anatolian high schools and 28,8% of them are studying in private high schools. 43.5% of the students are doing sports, 56.5% are not. 73.8% of the individuals do not have other family members doing sports and 26.2% of the individuals have other members in their families doing sports.  

Table-2. Students' social anxiety and sub-dimensions and t test results of communication skills and their sub dimensions according to gender variable

Variables	Gender	n	x	sd	t	p
Social Avoidance	Male	192	23,281	,81888	,389	,697
	Female	190	22,956	,81269
Anxiety of Evaluation	Male	192	26,771	,84661	-,641	,522
	Female	190	27,295	,74746
Sense of Worthlessness	Male	192	22,070	,75518	-,552	,581
	Female	190	22,500	,76614
Total Social Anxiety	Male	192	24,122	,75086	-,215	,830
	Female	190	24,281	,69643
Basic Communication Skills,	Male	192	37,323	,83227	-1,649	,100
	Female	190	38,674	,76697
Self-Expression Skill	Male	192	37,474	,87317	-,514	,607
	Female	190	37,921	,82508
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Male	192	35,729	,84307	-3,660	,000*
	Female	190	38,684	,73017
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Male	192	36,583	,83380	1,485	,138
	Female	190	35,326	,82017
Total Communication Skill	Male	192	36,817	,75421	-1,463	,144
	Female	190	37,886	,67268

Source: Calculated from primary data *Level of significance at p<0.05

As shown in the Table 2, it has been found that there is a significant difference between male and female students in effective Listening and Nonverbal Communication Skill, which is the sub-dimension of communication skills.

The score average of the female students has been found higher than the average of the male students. There was no significant difference in terms of gender in communication skills and their other sub-dimensions as well as social anxiety and its sub-dimensions.

Table-3. Social anxiety and its sub-dimensions, t-test results of communication skills and their sub-dimensions according to whether or not students are doing sports

Variables	Doing Sports	n	x	sd	t	p
Social Avoidance	Sports	166	23,504	,88199	,808	,420
	Non-sports	216	22,824	,76010
Anxiety of Evaluation	Sports	166	27,843	,84142	1,748	,081
	Non-sports	216	26,407	,75944
Sense of Worthlessness	Sports	166	22,831	,84209	1,235	,218
	Non-sports	216	21,863	,68931
Total Social Anxiety	Sports	166	24,771	,78843	1,352	,177
	Non-sports	216	23,762	,66771
Basic Communication Skills	Sports	166	37,072	,86561	-1,978	,049
	Non-sports	216	38,704	,74425
Self-Expression Skill	Sports	166	36,928	,93040	-1,554	,121
	Non-sports	216	38,287	,77733
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Sports	166	36,305	,87079	-1,917	,056
	Non-sports	216	37,886	,73895
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Sports	166	35,759	,89410	-,411	,681
	Non-sports	216	36,111	,77584
Total Communication Skill	Sports	166	36,602	,77561	-1,791	,074
	Non-sports	216	37,922	,66250

 Source: Calculated from primary data Level of significance at p<0.05

As seen in Table 3, in social anxiety and its sub-dimensions, communication skills and their sub-dimensions there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the students who did sports and those who did not.     

Table-4. T-test results of Students' social anxiety and subscales, communication skills and subscales according to kind of sports

Variables	Kind of Sport	n	x	Sd	t	p
Social Avoidance	Individual sports	76	23,289	,78409	-,287	,774
	Team sports	90	23,685	,96092
Anxiety of Evaluation	Individual sports	76	27,500	,71657	-,482	,630
	Team sports	90	28,133	,93703
Sense of Worthlessness	Individual sports	76	22,072	,84226	1,068	,287
	Team sports	90	23,472	,84130
Total Social Anxiety	Individual sports	76	24,368	,69690	-,604	,547
	Team sports	90	25,111	,86060
Basic Communication Skills	Individual sports	76	37,053	,86223	-,027	,979
	Team sports	90	37,089	,87328
Self-Expression Skill	Individual sports	76	36,711	,91671	-,276	,783
	Team sports	90	37,111	,94654
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Individual sports	76	35,789	,90245	-,700	,485
	Team sports	90	36,741	,84575
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Individual sports	76	36,105	,85285	,457	,648
	Team sports	90	35,467	,93126
Total Communication Skill	Individual sports	76	36,505	,74714	-,148	,883
	Team sports	90	36,684	,80294

  Source: Calculated from primary data Level of significance at p<0.05

When the Table 4 is examined, there was no significant difference found between students' social anxiety and its sub-scale scores and communication skills and their sub-scale scores according to the sport they do. 

Table-5. Correlation Analysis Results Between social anxiety level and its sub dimensions communication skills and their sub-dimensions

Variables		Basic Communication Skills	Self-Expression Skill	Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Total Communication Skill
Social Avoidance	r	-,156**	-,298**	-,114*	-,126*	-,186**
	p	,000	,000	,026	,014	,000
Anxiety of Evaluation	r	-,066	-,192**	-,020	,018	-,067
	p	,196	,000	,703	,726	,190
Sense of Worthlessness	r	-,151**	-,277**	-,105*	-,049	-,160**
	p	,003	,000	,040	,340	,002
Total Social Anxiety	r	-,137**	-,283**	-,088	-,064	-,153**
	p	,007	,000	,086	,213	,003

Source: Calculated from primary data ** Level of significance at p<0.01   * Level of significance at p<0.05

When the Table 5 is examined, in the social avoidance sub-dimension, there is a strong and meaningful relationship between scores of all sub-dimensions of total communication skills and communication skills in the negative direction.  In the Evaluation Anxiety   sub-dimension, there is a strong and meaningful relationship in the negative direction between self-expression skill sub-scale scores.  There is a significant negative relationship among the scores of the sub-dimension of Sense of Worthlessness   Basic communication skills, Self Expression Effective Listening and Nonverbal Communication Skills and Total Communication Skills There is a strong and meaningful relationship in the negative direction between the individuals' total social anxiety score and total communication skills score.

Table-6. Correlation analysis results between level of social anxiety and sub dimensions

Variables		Anxiety of Evaluation	Sense of Worthlessness	Total Social Anxiety
Social Avoidance	r	,754**	,752**	,939**
	p	,000	,000	,000
Anxiety of Evaluation	r		,696**	,903**
	p		,000	,000
Sense of Worthlessness	r			,875**
	p			,000

Source: Calculated from primary data ** Level of significance at p<0.01   

A significant and positive relationship was found between social anxiety level score and sub-scale scores in the social anxiety scale total point averages. There was a significant positive relationship between the social avoidance sub-scale and the sub-scale of evaluation anxiety and sense of worthlessness. There was a significant positive correlation between the evaluation anxiety sub-scale and the sense of worthlessness sub-scale.

Table-7. Correlation analysis results showing relationship between communication skills and their sub dimensions

Variables		Self-Expression Skill	Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Total Communication Skill
Basic Communication Skills	r	,654**	,758**	,695**	,937**
	p	,000	,000	,000	,000
Self-Expression Skill	r		,640**	,660**	,807**
	p		,000	,000	,000
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	r			,611**	,871**
	p			,000	,000
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	r				,833**
	p				,000

  Source: Calculated from primary data ** Level of significance at p<0.01 

There was a significant positive correlation between communication skill scale total score average and communication skill sub-scales.

There was a significant positive correlation between scores of communication skill sub-scales.

Table-8. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of social anxiety level and communication skill sub-dimensions according to the schools that the students study

Variables		n	x	sd	F	p
Social Avoidance	Regular High School	28	25,417	,64290	,811	,488
	Sports High School	86	22,810	,93760
	Anatolian High School	158	22,943	,78251
	Private High School	110	23,030	,79777
Anxiety of Evaluation	Regular High School	28	27,571	,69358	,487	,691
	Sports High School	86	26,302	,96248
	Anatolian High School	158	27,494	,71148
	Private High School	110	26,800	,80489
Sense of Worthlessness	Regular High School	28	24,643	,79412	1,953	,121
	Sports High School	86	20,959	,85785
	Anatolian High School	158	22,231	,63774
	Private High School	110	22,795	,81975
Total Social Anxiety	Regular High School	28	25,929	,61906	,821	,483
	Sports High School	86	23,481	,84995
	Anatolian High School	158	24,270	,64577
	Private High School	110	24,224	,74724
Basic Communication Skills	Regular High School	28	37,714	,90220	1,415	,238
	Sports High School	86	36,721	,98011
	Anatolian High School	158	38,886	,63245
	Private High School	110	37,782	,83539
Self-Expression Skill	Regular High School	28	35,536	,66791	2,405	,067
	Sports High School	86	36,512	103,914
	Anatolian High School	158	38,956	,68956
	Private High School	110	37,364	,91298
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	Regular High School	28	35,833	,66589	2,331	,074
	Sports High School	86	36,008	,94498
	Anatolian High School	158	38,439	,73693
	Private High School	110	36,697	,78563
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	Regular High School	28	34,857	,57459	,182	,909
	Sports High School	86	36,140	,88745
	Anatolian High School	158	36,000	,76082
	Private High School	110	36,036	,93022
Total Communication Skill	Regular High School	28	36,343	,65063	1,503	,213
	Sports High School	86	36,400	,87101
	Anatolian High School	158	38,213	,56730
	Private High School	110	37,105	,78117

 Source: Calculated from primary data Level of significance at p<0.05 

When Table 8 is examined, no significant difference has been found between social anxiety and its sub-dimensions and communication skill and its sub-scale scores according to the schools where the students study.

Table-9. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of the social anxiety level and communication skill sub-dimensions according to father's educational status of students

Variables		n	x	sd	F	p
Social Avoidance	1. Primary School,	96	24,167	,91814	5,133	,002** 1-4     2-4
	2. Secondary School	112	24,539	,83107
	3. High School	112	22,560	,75102
	4. University	62	19,946	,62395
Anxiety of Evaluation	1. Primary School,	96	29,104	,95966	5,347	,001** 1-3     1-4
	2. Secondary School	112	27,875	,73963
	3. High School	112	25,286	,71904
	4. University	62	25,452	,66866
Sense of Worthlessness	1. Primary School,	96	22,396	,83107	1,762	,154
	2. Secondary School	112	23,415	,71088
	3. High School	112	21,094	,69832
	4. University	62	22,218	,82153
Total Social Anxiety	1. Primary School,	96	25,340	,84953	4,032	,008**
	2. Secondary School	112	25,351	,69583		4-Feb
	3. High School	112	23,077	,65317
	4. University	62	22,387	,62113
Basic Communication Skills	1. Primary School,	96	38,271	,77044	1,130	,337
	2. Secondary School	112	38,964	,77714
	3. High School	112	37,179	,88940
	4. University	62	37,290	,72211
Self-Expression Skill	1. Primary School,	96	38,646	,79299	3,091	,027*
	2. Secondary School	112	37,768	,79650		4-Mar
	3. High School	112	35,848	,99806
	4. University	62	39,435	,66748
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	1. Primary School,	96	38,229	,74959	1,934	,124
	2. Secondary School	112	37,411	,74731
	3. High School	112	35,744	,90760
	4. University	62	37,849	,75046
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	1. Primary School,	96	35,833	,78280	1,847	,138
	2. Secondary School	112	36,929	,72232
	3. High School	112	34,571	,97294
	4. University	62	36,903	,77305
Total Communication Skill	1. Primary School,	96	37,833	,65492	1,640	,180
	2. Secondary School	112	37,993	,66016
	3. High School	112	36,100	,84279
	4. University	62	37,690	,63743

Source: Calculated from primary data ** Level of significance at p<0.01   * Level of significance at p<0.05  

When the Table 9 is examined, according to the educational status of the students' fathers; there is a significant difference between the scores of the university graduates and the primary and secondary school graduates in the social avoidance subscale; In the Evaluation anxiety sub-dimension, there is a significant difference between primary school graduates and high school and university graduates and in the social anxiety sub-dimension, there is a significant difference between the scores of secondary school graduates and university graduates.

According to the educational status of the father, there is a significant difference between the scores of high school graduates and university graduates in the sub-dimension of Self Expression Skill. There was no significant difference was found between the scores of communication skill and other sub-dimensions according to father's educational status.

Table-10. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of the social anxiety level and communication skill sub-dimensions according to Mother's educational status of students

Variables		n	x	sd	F	p
Social Avoidance	1. Primary School,	182	24,130	,83783	1,811	,145
	2. Secondary School	92	22,228	,78797
	3. High School	78	22,286	,82282
	4. University	30	21,889	,68821
Anxiety of Evaluation	1. Primary School,	182	28,253	,78812	2,910	,034* 1-3
	2. Secondary School	92	26,130	,75582
	3. High School	78	25,462	,81219
	4. University	30	26,467	,87247
Sense of Worthlessness	1. Primary School,	182	22,088	,69778	,556	,644
	2. Secondary School	92	21,929	,76258
	3. High School	78	22,564	,82077
	4. University	30	23,833	,94967
Total Social Anxiety	1. Primary School,	182	24,960	,71103	1,319	,268
	2. Secondary School	92	23,449	,69624
	3. High School	78	23,419	,76037
	4. University	30	23,933	,76955
Basic Communication Skills	1. Primary School,	382	24,201	,72339	1,277	,282
	2. Secondary School	182	37,330	,76470
	3. High School	92	38,783	,86442
	4. University	78	39,000	,80259
Self-Expression Skill	1. Primary School,	30	37,000	,81621	1,598	,189
	2. Secondary School	182	37,830	,76546
	3. High School	92	36,250	,98023
	4. University	78	38,333	,86290
Effective Listening and Non Verbal Communication Skills	1. Primary School,	30	39,667	,83494	,714	,544
	2. Secondary School	182	36,722	,83525
	3. High School	92	37,536	,78114
	4. University	78	37,265	,75544
Willingness to Establish Communication Skill	1. Primary School,	30	38,889	,78214	,789	,500
	2. Secondary School	182	35,604	,73865
	3. High School	92	36,348	,80799
	4. University	78	36,872	,96462
Total Communication Skill	1. Primary School,	30	34,533	101,700	,503	,681
	2. Secondary School	182	36,919	,66297
	3. High School	92	37,591	,75637
	4. University	78	38,051	,76967

Source: Calculated from primary data * Level of significance at p<0.05  

Looking at the table, there is a significant difference between the scores of primary school graduates and high school graduates in the sub-scale of Evaluation anxiety of Social distress. There is no significant difference between social anxiety level and communication skill scores according to mother's educational status.

4. Discussion and Conclusion

The aim of this study is to examine the level of Social Anxiety and Communication Skills of the students studying in secondary school.

In this study, no statistically significant difference was found between social anxiety and its sub-scales. In the researches conducted by Temizel (2014); Erkan (2002) and Gümüş (2002) it was concluded that social anxiety did not change according to gender. From a literary perspective, it is seen that research findings about the gender that the social distress is seen more are not consistent with each other. While in some studies men's social anxiety levels are different, there is no statistically significant difference in some studies (Leary and Kowalski, 1995; Montgomery, 1995).  In terms of social anxiety, it is thought that the absence of any difference between the genders may be due to the following reasons: the students involved in the survey are the students who go to school in the same province, and in this context, having similar social activities, having similar social areas, living in the same cultural environment. In their study with (9th grade) students, Warren et al. (1984) have stated that there is no statistical difference regarding gender. More researches are needed to clearly demonstrate the role of gender on social anxiety. This research is consistent with the findings obtained.

In terms of the gender of the students, there was no significant difference between the average scores of total communication skills. Significant difference was found only between male and female students in the effective listening sub-dimension. The score averages of female students have been found higher than that of men.  When the literature is examined, there are findings supporting our research (Erözkan, 2007).

Meaningful relationship was found in the negative direction between basic communication skills and social avoidance from communication skills and feeling of worthlessness and total social anxiety. This finding means that as the basic communication skills increase, the level of social avoidance, feeling of worthlessness and social anxiety decreases. Findings are suitable for anticipation. It is consistent with the field of literature (Gümüş, 2010; Yıldırım et al., 2011) .

There is a meaningful relationship in the negative direction between expressing oneself, from communication skills scale sub-dimensions, and social avoidance, anxiety of evaluation, feeling of worthlessness and total social anxiety. This finding implies that as self-expression increases, social avoidance, evaluation anxiety, sense of worthlessness and social anxiety levels decrease. The finding is consistent with the literature (Burger, 2006; Gümüş, 2010). It is thought that those who express themselves comfortably are more likely to be individuals who have high self-esteem, find themselves self-worthy, and think that they will not be evaluated negatively.
There is a significant relationship at the high level in the negative direction between active listening contact skills scale sub-dimension and non-verbal communication and social avoidance, sense of worthlessness. This finding means that as the effective listening and nonverbal communication increase, the level of social avoidance and sense of worthlessness decrease.  As a consequence, it is in consistency with the field of the literature (Baltacı, 2010; Cakır, 2010) .

There is a significant relationship at the high level in the negative direction between communication skills scale sub-dimension willingness to communicate and social avoidance. This finding implies that as the willingness to communicate increases, the level of social avoidance decreases. Increase in willingness to communicate, low levels of comfortable social avoidance in communication with other people are expected situations. As a consequence, as communication skills increase, social avoidance, evaluation anxiety, feeling of worthlessness and social anxiety levels are decreasing.

A significant difference was found in terms of education levels of the parents in students' social anxiety level and its sub dimensions.  It is seen that the level of social anxiety of the students increases as the educational level of the parents decreases. In the studies Gümüş (1997) and Erkan (2002) conducted, they found that social anxiety levels changed according to the educational status of the mother and the father; this finding is supporting our work.

A significant difference was found in terms of education levels of the parents in the sub-dimension of the Self-Expression Skill of the students' communication skill.  In the communication skills and other sub-dimensions, there was no significant difference was found between the educational levels of the parents.

There was no significant difference in social anxiety and communication skill scores in terms of whether or not participants did sports. Also in the study of Cağlayan (2015) there was no difference between the levels of social anxiety of those who do sports and those who do not, which is parallel to our study. However, the fact that in our study the students who did sports had higher scores than those who did not can be stated as a result of the effect of sports on socialization.

References

Baltacı, Ö., 2010. Analysis of relationship between universty students' social anxiety, social support and problem solving approach. (Unpublished Master Thesis). Konya: Selçuk University  Educational Sciences Institute.

Burger, J.M., 2006. Personality. (İ.D. Erguvan Sarıoğlu, Transl.). İstanbul: Cactus Publications.

Cağlar, M., S. Dinçyürek and N. Arsan, 2012. Examinataion of social anxtiety at university level students. Hacettepe University, Journal of Education, 43(43): 106-116. View at Google Scholar 

Cağlayan, T.A., 2015. Effects of sports on social anxiety and sobjective well – being levels of University students. (Unpublished Master Thesis), Konya: Selçuk University, Healt Sciences Institute.

Cakır, S., 2010. The effect of overcoming social anxiety program. Which is based on the cognitive behaviorist approach, on high school students' level of social anxiety. (Unpublished Master Thesis). Bursa: Uludağ University,  Social Sciences Institute.

Cüceloğlu, D., 2000. Human and behavior. Istanbul: Remzi Bookstore.

Dökmen, Ü., 1994. Communication conflicts and empathy in art and daily life. İstanbul: Sistem Publishing.

Eren, G.A., 2006. Prediction of social distress according to self-esteem and non-functional attitudes. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Magazine, 3(26): 63-75.

Ergin, A. and C. Birol, 2000. Communication in education. Ankara: Anı Publishing.

Erkan, Z., 2002. A study on adolescents level of social anxiety, parental attitude and the type of risk factors taking place in the families, (Unpublished PhD Thesis). Adana: Çukurova University, Educational Sciences Institute.

Erözkan, A., 2007. Examination the relationships between rejection sensitivities and social anxiety levels of university students according to some variables. Selçuk University. Journal of Institute of Social Sciences, 17(17): 221-223.

Güçlü, M., 2000. The Problems and expectations of college students who do actively sport at clups are tried to be defined (Ankara Province Example). Unpublished PhD Thesis, Ankara: Gazi University, Healt Sciences Institute.

Gümüş, A.E., 1997. Investigation to according to some variables to social anxiety levels of the students at University. Unpublished Master Thesis, Ankara: Gazi University Social Sciences Institute.

Gümüş, E., A., 2002. The effect of the group program of coping with social anxiety upon social anxiety level of university students. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Ankara: Ankara University, Educational Sciences Institute.

Gümüş, E., A., 2010. Conquering social anxiety. 2nd Edn., Ankara: Nobel Publications.

Korkut, F., 1997. Evaluating communication skills of university students. IV National Educational Sciences Congress 4th, (pp.208-218). September 10-12, 1997, Anadolu University. Eskisehir.

Küçük, V. and H. Koç, 2004. Relationship between human and sports in psychosocial develpoment process. Dumlupınar University, Journal of Social Sciences, 10(10): 131-141.

Leary, M.R. and R.M. Kowalski, 1995. Social anxiety. Newyork, London: The Guilford Press.

Montgomery, S.A., 1995. Pocket reference to social phobia. Basel: Roche.

Oda, B., 2014. Healt Sciences Institute. Investigation of the level of aggressi̇on and optimism on the students aged 11-13 who do sports or not. Unpublished Master Thesis, Samsun: Ondokuz Mayıs University.

Özbay, Y. and M. Palancı, 2001. Social anxiety scale: Validity reliability study. VI. National Psychological Counseling and Guidance Congress, Ankara, ODTÜ.

Ozer, A.R., 2017. The level of social anxiety in teachers and analysis of communication skills in would examined terms of some variables. Unpublished Master Thesis, İstanbul: Nişantaşı University, Social Sciences Institute.

Temizel, S., 2014. Familial and cognitive factors predicting social anxiety among university students. Unpublished Master Thesis, İzmir: Ege University, Social Sciences Institute.

Urgüplü, S.K.F., 2006. The effect of communication skills on teachers communication skills. Unpublished Master Thesis, Ankara: Hacettepe University, Social Sciences Institute.

Warren, R., G. Good and E. Velten, 1984. Measurement of social evaluative anxiety in junior high school students. Adolescence, 19(75): 643-648. View at Google Scholar 

Yıldırım, T., Y. Cırak and N. Konan, 2011. Social anxiety among candidate teachers. Journal of the Faculty of Education, 12(1): 85–100.