Influencia de las redes sociales en las habilidades sociales en estudiantes universitarios de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad de Cuenca, 2020

Abstract

The use of social networks is a frequent and even indispensable activity for the general population, even more so for university students, because it is an accessible tool to interact with others (Reyes, 2020). However, its frequent use can bring with it several problems that are similar to chemical addictions, as indicated by Griffts (2005), who points out 6 similar symptoms between the so-called behavioral and chemical addictions. Consequently, it is believed that the use of social networks can impair the development of social skills, because they are behaviors learned by observation (Caballo, 1996). For this reason, the social skills of psychology students can be vulnerable and bring problems in relation to the functions performed by a professional psychologist, such as being an expert in interpersonal relationships, which implies the management of social skills (Santos, 2017). The main objective of this study was to establish the relationship between the use of social networks and social skills in students of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Cuenca. To develop this research, a non-experimental cross-sectional design was used that claimed to have a correlational scope. We worked with 137 students, to whom the Gismero Social Skills Scale (2010) and the Escurra and Salas Social Media Addiction questionnaire (2014) were applied. The results showed a significant correlation between the excessive use of social networks and the development of social skills. In addition to a medium level of development of social skills at a general level, with the exception of the dimension “make requests”. Regarding addiction to social networks, a high level of risk was not found at the general level of the student body, although the minimum percentage of students with a high level of risk in addiction to social networks show a low level of social skills.