Social Problem Solving as a Predictor of Well-being in Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Social problem solving is the cognitive-affective-behavioral process by which people attempt to resolve real-life problems in a social environment, and is of key importance in the management of emotions and well-being. This paper reviews a series of studies on social problem solving conducted by the authors. First, we developed and validated the Chinese version of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory Revised (C-SPSI-R) which demonstrated very good psychometric properties. Second, we identified the scope of stressful social situations faced by young adults and their self-efficacy in facing such situations (N =179).Young adults were generally confident about their basic social skills but found it much more stressful to relate to family members, handle conflicts, handle negative behaviors from others, self-disclose to others, and to express love. Third, in two separate studies, we found that social problem solving was closely linked to measures of depression (n = 200), anxiety (n = 235), and family well-being (N = 1462). Measures of anxiety and depression were found to be significantly related to aspects of social problem solving in expected directions and expected strength. In another study, higher parental social problem solving behavior and lower avoidance behavior were found to be related to indicators of family well-being, including better overall family functioning, and fewer parent-adolescent conflicts.

Social problem‐solving in Chinese baccalaureate nursing students

“…Nurses with higher social problem‐solving ability may also easy to establish interpersonal relationship in their working environment, then, easy to handle patient's problems, and these skills must begin at school and continue in health care . It should also be noted that social problem‐solving was not emphasized in the Chinese culture . There was lacking of empirical study to investigate it.…”

“…Previous studies focused on studying the relationship between social problem‐solving ability and mental health, as well as behavioral and academic competence on individuals . Social Problem‐solving was also found significantly related to well‐being, self‐esteem, life satisfaction, interpersonal competence, and social skills . Although the studies to explore nursing student's social problem‐solving and its relationship with teaching–learning strategies were gradually gained attention by nurse educators, there was still lacking of researches to verify it, especially in China.…”

Positive affect facilitates social problem solving

“…Deficits in social problem solving have been linked to negative outcomes such as anxiety (Siu & Shek, ), depression (e.g., Marx et al., ), and increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Thompson, Mazza, Herting, Randell, & Eggert, ). In contrast, effective social problem solving has been linked to positive outcomes such as positive family functioning and higher personal well‐being (Siu & Shek, ) and higher self‐esteem and life satisfaction (Hamarta, ). There is also some indication that social problem solving is linked to perceptions of work stress (Baker & Williams, ) and adjustment to college (Brooks & DuBois, ).…”

‘Boost Camp’, a universal school-based transdiagnostic prevention program targeting adolescent emotion regulation; evaluating the effectiveness by a clustered RCT: a protocol paper

“…Typically, problem solving involves several steps to adequately solve a problem which may include a positive problem orientation, problem formulation, solutions generation, alternatives evaluation and process evaluation [ 42 , 103 ]. Adolescents poor problem-solving skills have been associated with problem behavior [ 123 ], suicide risk [ 67 ], depressive- and anxiety symptoms [ 10 , 115 , 123 , 125 ]. Studies that evaluate the effects of problem solving as a single and explicit ER strategy in youth are scarce.…”