title: Social skills, friendship and happiness: a cross-cultural investigation.
abstract: The present study investigated the associations between social skills, friendship quality, and happiness, and tested a mediational model positing that friendship quality would mediate the relationship between social skills and happiness among American and Malaysian college students. Although American students reported significantly higher levels of psychosocial well-being than Malaysian students, the study variables were positively associated with each other in both cultures. More importantly, findings supported the proposed model in both groups. Results suggest that part of the reason why social skills are associated with positive psychological well-being is because of friendship experiences. Overall, the findings of the present study reinforce, extend and cross-culturally generalize the presumed benefits of social skills in positive well-being elaborated by Segrin and Taylor (2007). The authors also provided suggestions for future research.
authors.affiliation: Northern Arizona University, Psychology Department, P.O. Box 15106, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5036, USA. md355@nau.edu
authors.forename: Melikşah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: Jas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaafar
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilyk
authors.forename: Mohammad Raduan Mohd
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ariff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008296:Malaysia / Q000208:ethnology; D011584:Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult