The effects of a 52-lesson, class-taught, social-problem-solving (SPS) training program for third-grade children were assessed with three questions in mind: (a) Does training improve interpersonal problem-solving abilities? (b) Does it enhance behavioral adjustment? and (c) Are problem solving and adjustive gains related? A total of 243 suburban and inner-city program children and controls were evaluated on a variety of problem-solving and behavioral-adjustment measures. Program children improved more than controls on several cognitive skills, including problem identification, alternative-solution thinking, and consequential thinking as well as on behavioral problem-solving performance. The intervention positively affected the adjustment of suburban but not urban youngsters. However, relationships between problem-solving skill improvements and adjustive gains were not found. Variables such as program curriculum and the age and sociodemographic attributes of its targets must be better understood in exploring the potential of SPS training to promote behavioral adjustment.

This exploratory interview study investigated the informal interpersonal help-giving behaviors of 76 bartenders. Bartenders serve an average of 100+ customers daily, of whom about 16070 raise moderate to serious personal problems. The types of personal problems that came up, and bartenders" handling strategies and feeling reactions when such problems were raised, were recorded and analyzed. All three fell into meaningful factor clusters. Due in part to the hectic nature of the bar situation, bartenders are less able to engage personal problems in depth than other informal help-agents, e.g., beauticians. They are also less interested in prospective mental health consultation. Thus, although personal problems do indeed come up frequently at the bar, methods for superficial handling and/or referral, rather than in-depth engagement of such problems, seem more consistent with the realities of that work situation.

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This report describes the development of the Parent Rating Scale (PRS), a 20-item scale for use by parents in ratin the adjustment of young normal children. Based on the responses o f 416parents of urban and suburban 2nd and 3rd grade children, a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded a 4factor solution accounting for 48.3% in total variance. Low to moderate relationships were found between PRS scores and teacher, self, and sociometric ratings of children. PRS total and factor and total scores discriminated clearly between referred and nonreferred children. Suburban children had higher PRS scores than urban children and girls had higher scores than boys.Requests for reprints should be directed to: