Parental Involvement and Peer Relationships towards Primary School Students Social Awareness

Abstract

Social awareness is an aspect that emphasises a person's ability to be more empathetic, understanding and to recognize the perspectives and feelings of others in a social context. In order to strengthen social awareness among primary school students, parental involvement and peer relationships play an important role. A quantitative study using a survey research design was conducted to identify the relationship between parental involvement and peer relationships with the primary school students’ social awareness. A total of 410 primary school students aged between 10-12 were selected as respondents for this study through a simple random sampling technique. The research instrument used was adapted from the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ), Qualities of Classroom Friends (QCF), Social Awareness Scale (SAS), and Social and Emotional Competencies Questionnaire (SEC-Q). The results of this study showed that the level of parental involvement was at a moderately high level (m = 3.36). Similarly, the level of peer relationships and the level of student social awareness were also found to be at a moderately high level with (m = 3.65) and (m = 3.71), respectively. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a positive and significant relationship between parental involvement and social awareness of primary school students (r=0.531, p<0.001). Additionally, Pearson's correlation analysis also showed a positive and significant relationship between peer relationships and social awareness of primary school students (r=0.405, p<0.001). This study has implications for parents to realise the importance of their involvement in school activities and their children's daily activities in contributing towards students’ level of social awareness. The findings of this study can serve as a guideline for parents and educators to take the initiative in helping students build healthy friendships with peers so that students' social awareness skills can be enhanced.