Are Social Skills Related to Sociodemographic Variables and Depressive Symptoms? A Cross-Sectional Study with Elderly Sample

Social skills contribute to harmonious interactions and, therefore, are critical to the health and quality of life. Considering its recognized association with sociodemographic variables, it is important to assess this repertoire in different age groups. This study aimed at verifying a possible association between social skills in elderly and variables as age, years of education, income, gender, civil state and depressive symptoms. The participants in the study were 134 elderly aged 60 years or older, recruited from 17 community groups of elderly from Porto Alegre and its metropolitan area. The instruments used were: Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Sociodemographic Data Sheet, the Brazil Economic Classification Criterion, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and the Social Skills Inventory for the Elderly SSIE-Del-Prette). Results indicated a negative association between depressive symptoms and the Social skills Overall Score, being appointed as its stronger predictor. Variables as years of education, socioeconomic status and depressive symptoms had greater influence on the Social skills Overall Score, as well as on the factors of Conversation and Social Resourcefulness and the Affective-Sexual Approach. Gender proved to be the most associated predictor to Affective-Sexual Approach. These results indicated a protective effect of social skills on health aspects of the elderly.