Deficits In Problem-solving Skills Research Articles

Factors linking suicidal ideation with drinking to cope and alcohol problems in emerging adult college drinkers.

There is a well-established association between suicidal behavior and alcohol misuse. However, few studies have applied relevant theory and research findings in the areas of both alcohol and suicidal behavior to aid in the understanding of why these may be linked. The current study examined whether three variables (problem-solving skills, avoidant coping, and negative urgency) suggested by theory and previous findings in both areas of study help to account for the previously found association of suicidal ideation with drinking to cope and alcohol problems. Participants were 381 college women (60.4%) and men (39.6%) between the ages of 18 and 25 who were current drinkers and had a history of (at a minimum) passive suicidal ideation. Structural equation modeling was used to examine hypothesized associations among problem-solving skills, avoidant coping, drinking to cope (DTC), impulsivity in response to negative affect (i.e., negative urgency), severity of suicidal ideation, heavy alcohol use, and alcohol problems. Model results revealed that problem-solving skills deficits, avoidant coping, and negative urgency were each directly or indirectly associated with greater severity of suicidal ideation, DTC, heavy alcohol use, and alcohol problems. The results suggest that the positive association between suicidal ideation and DTC found in this and other studies may be accounted for by shared associations of these variables with problem-solving skills deficits, avoidant coping, and negative urgency. Increasing at-risk students' use of problem-solving skills may aid in reducing avoidance and negative urgency, which in turn may aid in reducing suicidal ideation, DTC, and alcohol misuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

When 2 is Better Than 1 + 1

Little is known about older spousal dyads’ collaborative problem solving. Although typically collaborating dyads perform worse than nominal dyads in other dyadic cognition tasks, we assumed that older couples might profit from collaboration in a highly demanding problem-solving task requiring the sequential and complementary use of spatial memory and reasoning abilities. In this paper, we examine whether older couples profit from the dyadic situation on a computer-based problem-solving task that can most likely be optimally solved when dyads manage to distribute responsibilities between the spatial memory demands and the reasoning demands of the task. In 50 married couples consisting of N = 100 older individuals (M = 67.3 years, SD = 4.9), we tested the hypothesis that compared to their own individual performance, compared to repeated individual performance of a control group (N = 41, M = 66.0 years, SD = 3.8), and compared to nominal pairs (same 100 participants as in the experimental group), older couples would show the best performance on the task. The comparison of individual versus dyadic problem-solving performance demonstrates that dyads consisting of old spouses outperform old individuals as well as nominal pairs on the problem-solving task. Our results suggest that older familiar dyads are expert collaborators whose collaborative expertise might be able to overcome individual deficits in problem-solving skills through dyadic cognition.

Child, parent, and peer predictors of early-onset substance use: a multisite longitudinal study.

The purpose of this study was to identify kindergarten-age predictors of early-onset substance use from demographic, environmental, parenting, child psychological, behavioral, and social functioning domains. Data from a longitudinal study of 295 children were gathered using multiple-assessment methods and multiple informants in kindergarten and 1st grade. Annual assessments at ages 10, 11, and 12 reflected that 21% of children reported having initiated substance use by age 12. Results from longitudinal logistic regression models indicated that risk factors at kindergarten include being male, having a parent who abused substances, lower levels of parental verbal reasoning, higher levels of overactivity, more thought problems, and more social problem solving skills deficits. Children with no risk factors had less than a 10% chance of initiating substance use by age 12, whereas children with 2 or more risk factors had greater than a 50% chance of initiating substance use. Implications for typology, etiology, and prevention are discussed.

A pilot study of the relationship between problem-solving skills and outcome in major depressive disorder.

Three methods of assessing problem-solving skills are described in the literature: questionnaires, self-report inventories and verbal assessment of the resolution of problem scenarios. These three approaches were used to assess problem-solving ability in a sample of 20 patients with unipolar major depressive disorder, who were treated with antidepressant medication alone at a hospital out-patient clinic. It was found that baseline deficits in problem-solving skills were significantly associated with prognosis at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Self-ratings of perceived self-control and confidence rather than subjective problem-solving effectiveness were important predictors of final outcome. Differences in perceived and actual problem-solving ability emerged over time. The reasons for these differences in subjective and observer assessments are unclear. The data appear to demonstrate that problem-solving deficits in depression represent both state and trait phenomena.

Externalizing Problems in Head Start Children: An Ecological Exploration

The increased familial and environmental stressors affecting Head Start families over the last two decades have precipitated an escalation of mental health difficulties among participant children (Yoshikawa & Knitzer, 1997). Using an ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). this study explored externalizing behavior problems among a group of Head Start children in a suburban county. Children were assessed for externalizing behavior problems in the home and classroom. Additionally, parents participated in interviews about a variety of ecological factors related to children's behavior problems. Almost one-quarter of the children were identified by their parents as having externalizing behavioral problems in the borderline or clinical range. Twice as many girls as boys had borderline or clinical levels of behavioral problems. Child externalizing behavior was positively associated with child internalizing behavior, parent psychological symptomatology, child temperament, family environment, and exposure to community violence. Children with parent-identified externalizing behavior did have specific social problem-solving skills deficits. Additionally, they were observed to have high levels of specific inappropriate behavior, but did not exhibit high levels of teacher-rated behavior problems. The implications of these findings for Head Start program planning are discussed.

HIV Among People with Mental Illness: Contributing Factors, Prevention Needs, Barriers, and Strategies

1. Findings suggest that PWMI, including those with serious mental illness, are sexually active although some individuals, including mental health professionals, perceive them to be asexual or not sexually active. 2. PWMI may be particularly susceptible to HIV risk-related behaviors due to poor judgment, limited impulse control, deficits in problem-solving skills, and suicidal intent and self-destructive behavior. 3. Nurses, due to their close interaction with PWMI, are in key positions to document HIV risk-related behaviors and to advocate for integrating HIV risk reduction strategies into the therapeutic milieu.

Gender Differences in Adolescent Depression: Gender-Typed Characteristics or Problem-Solving Skills Deficits?

This study explored gender differences indepressive symptoms during adolescence in relation withgender-typed characteristics, problem-solving abilities,and stressful life events. Participants were 306 white French-speaking adolescents (142 men and164 women) from upper middle-class families enrolled ina high school in the Trois-Rivieres area ofQuebec. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 17 years, with a mean age of 15.3 years (SD = .95). Theycompleted the French versions of the Beck DepressionInventory (BDI), the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), theProblem-Solving Inventory (PSI), and the Life Event Questionnaire (LEQ) during a regularclass. Depressed participants distinguished themselvesfrom nondepressed participants on all variables exceptfor expressivity. Instrumentality was negatively correlated with depression for boys and for thetotal sample. Scores on all three subscales of the PSIcorrelated with depression, and with scores on the LEQ,with the exception of “In the Last Year”subscale for boys. A path analysis was conducted usingscores on the BDI as the dependent variable. Subjectiveproblem-solving abilities act as a mediating variablebetween instrumentality and depression. Instrumentality, expressivity, and problem-solving abilitiesexplained a significant portion of the variance of theBDI.

Personal Problem-Solving Scoring of TAT Responses: Known-Groups Validation

Two studies employed a known-groups validation strategy to evaluate a Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) scoring system purported to measure personal problem-solving skills, the Personal Problem-Solving System (PPSS). In Study 1 clinicians rated the records of 46 mental health outpatients for the presence of personal problem-solving skills deficits. Verbatim TAT transcripts from these patients were blindly scored using the PPSS. Participants predicted to demonstrate problem-solving deficits obtained lower PPSS scores. In Study 2 a psychiatric sample (n = 47) and a community-based comparison group (n = 47) completed a life history questionnaire, a checklist of problems currently experienced, a measure of psychiatric symptoms, and responded to 3 TAT cards. TAT responses were again blindly scored using the PPSS. In contrast to the comparison group, psychiatric patients checked a greater number of current problems, endorsed more psychiatric symptoms, and obtained lower scores on the PPSS. A discriminant function analysis using PPSS scores correctly classified 72% of these participants. PPSS scores predicted group membership even after controlling for differences in age, education, the number of problems experienced, and psychiatric symptoms. This combination of variables correctly classified 92% of the participants. Results of both studies are interpreted as supporting the discriminant validity of the PPSS.

Social problem solving in suicidal adolescents.

Whether adolescent suicide attempters would have deficits in interpersonal problem solving and the relation between social problem solving, suicide intent, and medical lethality were evaluated. Compared with psychiatric and normal controls, adolescents who attempted suicide exhibited poorer social problem-solving abilities, particularly in terms of problem orientation. Specifically, suicide attempters brought more maladaptive cognitive-emotional-behavioral response sets to problematic situations than did psychiatric and normal controls. Both suicide attempters and psychiatric controls had similar deficits in problem-solving skills (e.g., generation of alternatives, decision making, and solution implementation) compared with nonhospitalized peers. Social problem solving was not found to be correlated with suicide lethality or intent.

Treatment of suicide ideators: A problem-solving approach

Social problem-solving therapy is based on research indicating that suicidal individuals have deficits in problem-solving skills in general and in interpersonal problemsolving skills, in particular. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of social problem-solving therapy compared to supportive therapy for treating suicidal older adolescents. The results indicated that problem-solving therapy was more effective than supportive therapy for reducing depression, hopelessness, and loneliness at three month follow-up, but not significantly better at reducing suicidal ideations. This study provides an example of systematic treatment research with suicidal individuals.

Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: II. Intervention.

Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: II. Intervention.