Skip to content

Social Awareness and Relationship Skills

Learner Variable · All learner variables
Evidence · 115 claims (79 show a difference, 25 mixed, 11 no difference) · 84 studies (24 review, 21 associational, 14 causal, 13 quant-synthesis, 5 qualitative, 5 design, 2 theoretical), q1–q4 · 24 of 84 report an effect size · 111 claims rest on one study

Description

Social awareness is the ability to take another person's perspective, read their feelings and understand the social norms of a setting; relationship skills are the ability to make and keep positive relationships, cooperate, communicate clearly and handle conflict. They are usually measured by parent, teacher and self-report rating scales of social-emotional competence, and by self-report scales of empathy and of how well a learner feels they fit in.

These skills matter for learning because so much learning is social: peers, teachers and co-workers become learning partners, and a learner who can see how their strengths contribute to a group is better placed to engage with it. The skills are described as relevant from the early years (cooperating with peers, learning about one's own and others' groups) through adolescence (peer relationships and sensitivity to peer pressure) into adulthood (workplace and classroom relationships, social networks).

The page overlaps with emotional intelligence, which covers perceiving and managing emotions in oneself and others, and with belonging, since positive peer and teacher relationships and a sense of belonging are described as reinforcing each other. Collaboration is the closely related skill of working together on a shared task.

Implications

Context

  • Matters most in designs that depend on group work, discussion, peer feedback or mentoring.
  • Settings where learners feel unsafe or are bullied tend to go with poorer peer relationships.
  • Structured collaborative learning is described as one way these skills are practised.

Target Learners

  • Learners of all ages, from preschool through adult education and the workplace.
  • Learners with hearing loss, sensory-integration difficulties or limited working memory, for whom group conversation and peer relationships can be harder.
  • English learners withdrawn from class for language instruction, who may have fewer chances to build peer relationships.

Target Learning Objectives

  • Positive peer and teacher relationships.
  • Effective participation in group learning.
  • Empathy and perspective taking.

Claims

Measures

  • Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) (LeBuffe, Naglieri & Shapiro, 2012): parent or teacher rating of social-emotional competencies, including social awareness and relationship skills, from kindergarten to grade 8, with a short screening form (DESSA-mini).
  • Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) (Gresham & Elliott, 2008): parent, teacher and student forms rating social behaviours such as cooperation, assertion, self-control and empathy, for elementary and secondary students.
  • Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (Rubin & Martin, 1994): self-report of empathy, expressiveness, supportiveness and related interpersonal skills.
  • Sense of Social and Academic Fit (Walton & Cohen, 2007): self-report of how socially and academically a student feels they belong.
  • Assessment of Quality of Life (Richardson et al., 2014): self-report questionnaire used to gauge adults' social awareness and sense of belonging.
  • Affect Regulation: recognising and managing emotions is a foundation of empathy and of getting on with others.
  • Social Supports: learners with stronger relationship skills report more support from parents, teachers and peers, and support in turn helps relationships.
  • Belonging: positive peer and teacher relationships and a sense of belonging are described as strengthening each other.
  • Executive Function: inhibition and cognitive flexibility help learners set aside their own view and take another's.
  • Access: hearing loss can make group conversation hard to follow and limit exposure to talk about feelings and mental states.
  • Self-Regulation: regulating one's own behaviour is described as important for forming and keeping friendships.
  • Motivation: social goals such as affiliation and approval are part of what motivates learners, and motivation relates to perceived social ability.
  • Sensory Integration: difficulties with sensory integration can reduce social participation and so weaken these skills.
  • Communication Skills: understanding conversational norms and wanting to help classmates connect communication with social skill.
  • Adverse Experiences: neglect can hinder social development, while some adults who experienced trauma report greater empathy.
  • Safety: bullying and feeling unsafe go with poorer peer relationships, and adolescents' risk-taking is sensitive to peer pressure.
  • Working Memory: lower working memory is associated with more difficulty in peer relationships.

Examples

Key Sources

  • Digital Promise. Learner Variability Navigator: Social Awareness & Relationship Skills (Adult Learner, Building Literacy 4-6, Building Literacy 7-12, Building Literacy PK-3, Building Math 3-6, Building Math 7-10, Building Math PK-2, Portrait of a Learner 4-8, Portrait of a Learner 9-12, Portrait of a Learner PK-3). lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.
Page metadata
Field Value
type learner-variable
id social-awareness-and-relationship-skills
title Social Awareness and Relationship Skills
description A learner's ability to understand others' perspectives and feelings and to build and keep positive relationships with peers, teachers and colleagues.
status review
canonical True
generated by claude/unspecified on 2026-10-16
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.