Linking social skills and adjustment

Fundamental social skills unfold across development and have clear links with psychological adjustment. Theories such as the social bonding perspective, interpersonal theories of depression, social learning theory, and the social information processing framework propose the notion that adaptive social skills contribute to positive adjustment across the lifespan and highlight clear social deficits that may disrupt this association. This chapter provides a brief summary of theory linking social skills and adjustment, followed by a review of key social skills that develop within significant developmental periods. Lastly, social skills deficits linked with major areas of psychopathology are reviewed.