Social Skills Study

 Students' social skills and emotional maturity have declined at least somewhat during the coronavirus pandemic, according to most educators who responded to a recent survey. Educators say that in some cases they have observed students withdrawing or acting out.

Educators see gaps in kids' emotional growth due to pandemic. (2022). Eduncaton Week Research Center. 

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/educators-see-gaps-in-kids-emotional-growth-due-to-pandemic/2022/02

Student social skills and screen time study

A new study suggests that, despite the large amount of time spent on smartphones and social media, young people today are just as socially skilled as those from the previous generation. Researchers compared teacher and parent evaluations of children who started kindergarten in 1998, six years before Facebook launched, with those who began school in 2010, when the first iPad debuted. The findings show that both groups of kids received similar ratings on their interpersonal skills, including the ability to form and maintain friendships and get along with those who are different. The two groups were also rated similarly on self-control, such as the ability to regulate their temper. There was one exception, however: Social skills were slightly lower for children who accessed online gaming and social networking sites several times a day.

Downey, D. B., & Gibbs, B. G. (2020). Kids These Days: Are Face-to-Face Social Skills among American Children Declining?. American Journal of Sociology, 125(4), 1030-1083.

MS computer use study

A working paper has suggested that the availability of personal computers at home don't stunt the social development of students in grades 6-10 or displace their engagement in sports or clubs.
Fairlie, R. (2016). The Effects of Computers on Children’s Social Development and School Participation: Evidence from a Randomized Control Experiment. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w22907

Technology and social-emotional learning skills survey

Education technology can help improve students' social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, according to an international report.The survey of 2000 educators and parents revealed three ways technology can aid in SEL development: improved collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.
World Economic Forum. (2016). New vision for education: Fostering social and emotional learning through technology.  Geneva: Author.
https://www.bcgperspectives.com/Images/How-Education-Technology-Can-Foster-Social-Emotional-Skills-Mar-2016.pdf

Social media and social skills research

The social skills of students using digital media may be declining, according to a new study. The researchers "found that sixth-graders who went five days without even glancing at a smartphone, television or other digital screen did substantially better at reading human emotions than sixth-graders from the same school who continued to spend hours each day looking at their electronic devices," according to a news release about the study.
"Many people are looking at the benefits of digital media in education, and not many are looking at the costs," said a senior author of the study.. "Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues — losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people — is one of the costs. The displacement of in-person social interaction by screen interaction seems to be reducing social skills."
Uhls, Y., et al. (2014).Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preten skills with nonverbal emotion cues. Computers in Human Behavior, 39(Oct.), 387–392.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214003227

Social-skills teaching study

Study Finds Social-Skills Teaching Boosts Academics An analysis of more than 200 studies finds that classroom programs that focus on social and emotional skills can yield learning improvements that rival those of purely academic programs. Durlak, J., et al. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development82(1), 405-432.

Social skills tudy

High-school cliques may foretell future social skills
Teens' high-school niche and their understanding of how to leverage their own popularity may predict how well they navigate complex social structures later in life, as well as their own feelings of well-being in adulthood, according to new findings.
Prinstein, M. (2008).
McElhaney, K. , Antonishak, J., & Allen, J. (2008). "They Like Me, They Like Me Not": Popularity and Adolescents' Perceptions of Acceptance Predicting Social Functioning Over Time. Child Development, 79(3), 720-731.

Social skills study

Social-Skills Programs Affect Academic Achievement
New research suggests that teachers should take time to teach students to manage their emotions and to practice empathy, caring, and cooperation.
Rand Corp. (2007). Caregiver well-being affects academic achievement. Santa Monica, CA: Author.
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/%7Esnapshots/snap48.pdf