Training Preschool Children in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

Abstract Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving training, developed to teach children how (rather than what) to think and therefore how to solve their own interpersonal problems, was used in a study over three years conducted in Newaygo County, Michigan to evaluate its impact on low-income preschool children. Overall, trained children improved in both their ability to solve interpersonal problems, and in their classroom behavior. Control children showed no such systematic improvement. The relationships between problem-solving ability and classroom behavior were observed directly and found to be positively related. The findings of these three studies indicate that interpersonal problem-solving training is useful with low-income, rural children.