Background and aims Although there is an increase in studies regarding child abuse and neglect, with studies on physical and sexual abuse taking lead, in the last ten years, there are very little studies on the long term effects of behaviour in schools that include emotional abuse. The attitudes and efforts of parents and teachers are very important in preventing such problems. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of perceived emotional abuse the children receive from parents and teachers on social skills in intermediate grade students.

Methods The design of the study is descriptive. The cross sectional study was conducted with students in the 10–15 age category studying in two middle schools in Turkey between February–June 2013. The selection of the schools was determined by the reachable sample method. There was no sample selection in the study, and all of the students in the universe (n = 753) were included in the sample.

Results It was also found in the study that there was an advanced relationship between the gender variable and the positive social behaviour score averages (p = 0.000), and that male students had a higher positive behaviour score average than female students. As it can be seen in Table 1, children took scores below average only from the MESSY scale, while their scores from the other three scales were above average.

Conclusions There is a significant relationship between the social skill levels of children aged between 10–15 years and perceived emotional abuse by parents.

The Matson Evaluation Scale for Social Skills in Younger People (MESSY).

The Perceived Teacher Behaviour Scale (PTBS).

The Mother/Father-Teenager Relationships Scale (MTRS/FTRS).