[Interpersonal relationships experienced in college life and development of social skills]

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between the development of social skills and students' experience in interpersonal relationships during their college life, focusing on what factors are most influential. The study was conducted based on a questionnaire regarding social skills, attitudes toward college life, clinical practice, lectures and interpersonal relationships, etc., distributed to 72 senior students from a 4-year nursing college as subjects. As a result, it was found that when students had to meet hardships regarding interpersonal relations during their college life, those who had two or more coping tools were able to develop more social skills than those who had to cope with the difficulty on their own. Moreover, students who had part-time jobs, took part in two or more extracurricular activities or overcame the difficulty of interpersonal relations during school festivals were reported to have improved their social skills. From these findings, one can speculate that the more quantity and the higher quality of interpersonal relationships students experience in their college life, the more and the higher-level social skills they can develop. It was also shown that the negative attitude toward interpersonal relationships as well as the difficulty students felt, during clinical practices worked as negative factors that might arrest the development of their social skills. It is therefore suggested that during clinical practices teachers should commit themselves positively to helping students cope with difficult situations or mend their negative attitudes toward interpersonal relations.