The relationship between social skills and the number of playmates among elementary school students was investigated. Elementary school students (n = 147) were asked about their social skills and the number of their playmates, as well as about the contents of their play. Social skills were classified into three categories: "empathic and supportive skills," "active and assertive skills," and "teasing and obstructive skills." Structural equation modeling was performed with the three categories of social skills as independent variables and the number of playmates as the dependent variable.
Results indicated that empathic and supportive skills, as well as teasing and obstructive skills had a positive relationship, whereas active and assertive skills had a negative relationship with the number of playmates. We conclude that empathic and supportive skills are useful for increasing the number of playmates among elementary school students
