Social problem solving: A moderator of the relation between negative life stress and depression symptoms in children

Goodman, Sherryl H.; Gravitt, Gwendell W.; Kaslow, Nadine J.

doi:10.1007/bf01447209

Cited by 73 publications

(54 citation statements)

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“…In contrast, this pattern was not observed for social anxiety. This supports previous findings that depression is associated with lower skills in problemsolving (see Goodman et al 1995;Sacco and Graves 1984), although the moderating effect of peer acceptance suggests that having at least some positive social relations to draw upon could facilitate the use of problem-solving strategies. As outlined earlier, conceptual and empirical work on specificity of thought in anxiety and depression suggests that the cognition of children higher in depressive symptoms is rooted in a greater sense of hopelessness and degradation (see Kendall and Ingram 1989), rendering them less likely to adopt proactive coping strategies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Both of these strategies are likely to be inhibited by enduring negative self-schemas which create a sense of hopelessness (related to the combination of high negative affect and low positive affect, as described in the tripartite model). Thus, even though problem-solving strategies have generally been negatively associated with internalising symptoms (e.g., Kochendefer-Ladd 2004), difficulties in orienting to a problem in order to find solutions are especially likely to be associated with depressive symptoms (see Goodman et al 1995;Ogul and Gencoz 2003;Sacco and Graves 1984). In contrast, as Daleiden and Vasey (1997, p. 418) conclude from their review of research on information-processing characteristics, "there is a clear indication that many responses accessed by anxious children … are proactive and problem-focused in nature", possibly reflecting the active intention to ward off perceived threats and reduce the core symptom of arousal.…”

Section: The Relationship Between Coping Strategies and Depression Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Depression and Social Anxiety in Children: Differential Links with Coping Strategies

Wright

Banerjee

Hoek

et al. 2009

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Strategies that children use for coping with stressors are known to be related to emotional adjustment, but not enough is understood about specific links with social anxiety and depression. The present investigation tested differentiated associations of social anxiety and depression with specific types of coping strategies, and evaluated the direction of these associations over time. In Study 1, 404 children aged 8-13 years completed a coping scale modified from Kochendefer-Ladd and Skinner (Developmental Psychology 38:267-278, 2002) in order to evaluate factor structure and subscale internal consistency. In Study 2, 270 8-11-year-old children completed depression and social anxiety scales, a sociometric survey, and the coping scale from Study 1, with a follow-up timepoint 9 months later. In Study 1, factor analysis revealed six internally consistent coping subscales. In Study 2, social anxiety and depression were found to have distinctive longitudinal associations with subsequent coping strategies. Decreased problem-solving, social support-seeking, and distraction were uniquely predicted by depression but not by social anxiety. Internalising coping was a stronger outcome of social anxiety, and increased externalising was uniquely predicted by depression. There was also some evidence for a moderating role of peer relations. However, none of the coping strategies predicted changes in depression or social anxiety over the two timepoints. These results highlight the impact that emotional adjustment may have on children's coping strategies, and clarify important distinctions between social anxiety and depression in relation to coping.Keywords Social anxiety . Depression . Coping . Peer relations . LongitudinalResearch has shown that social anxiety and depression regularly co-occur (Ingram et al. 2001). For instance, of people with a lifetime diagnosis of social phobia, 37.2% also had a lifetime diagnosis of major depression (Kessler et al. 1994). There is also substantial co-morbidity between depression and social anxiety in childhood, with a review by King et al. (1991) finding correlations based on self-reports ranging from 0.40 to 0.70 in clinical and non-clinical samples. Nonetheless, there is also clear evidence of differentiation between social anxiety and depression with respect to various behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics (Brady and Kendall 1992;Ogul and Gencoz 2003;Hong 2007).In an attempt to understand these similarities and differences, the tripartite model of anxiety and depression Psychol (2010) 38:405-419 DOI 10.1007 (Clark and Watson 1991) proposes that there is a common core of high negative affect (e.g., feeling upset) in both disorders, but also that positive affect (e.g., enthusiasm) is low especially in depression, whereas physiological hyperarousal (e.g., nervousness) is high especially in anxiety. This model has also been used as a framework for understanding these conditions in children (e.g., Crook et al. 1998;Laurent and Ettelson 2001), and though there has bee...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: The Relationship Between Coping Strategies and Depression Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression and Social Anxiety in Children: Differential Links with Coping Strategies

Wright

Banerjee

Hoek

et al. 2009

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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“…A number of studies have shown that social problem solving ability, either by itself, or together with social support, can reduce or minimize the impact of life stress on individuals (Dubow & Tisak, 1989;Dubow, Tisak, Causey, & Hryshko, 1991;D'Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991;Goodman, Gravitt, & Kaslow, 1995). Social problem solving abilities are found to moderate the relationship between negative life stress and measures of distress such as hopelessness (Bonner & Rich, 1988), anxiety (Nezu, 1986a), depressive symptoms (Nezu, 1986b), and behavioral and academic adjustment (Kang & Lee, 1992).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Siu¹,

Shek²

2009

Quality of Life of Chinese People in a Changing World

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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.

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“…Toward this end, these data reveal a small subset of common skills that may offer community providers the biggest bang for their buck in prevention programming, beginning with problem solving. Although it was beyond the scope of the present study to examine directly the associations of specific common elements with positive youth outcomes, a rich and extensive literature provides support for problem solving as an effective tool for promoting healthy trajectories (Dubow and Tisak 1989;Dubow, Tisak, ,Causey & Hryshko, 1991;D'Zurilla and Sheedy, 1991;Goodman, Gravitt, & Kaslow, 1995 Reinecke, Dattilio, & Freeman, 2006;FIG-TESPM, Elias & Tobias, 1990), corresponding perhaps to the wide range of life problems for which it can be applied, including interpersonal conflict, sexual risk-taking, exposure to alcohol and drugs, and problems of daily life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, we addressed the unique needs of YFC as previously described and outlined in Figure 1: (1) Access to condoms: Youth received a supply of condoms before leaving the shelter and information about where to access free condoms in their community; (2) Ambivalence towards teen pregnancy: Ambivalence was addressed explicitly through a role playing activity in which youth described the disadvantages of teen parenting to a "friend" who wanted to get pregnant; (3) Broader vulnerability: We added a problem-solving module, reflecting findings that problem-solving is ubiquitous to mental health intervention and prevention programs (eg: Goodman, Gravitt, & Kaslow, 1995), to strengthen resilience and reduce risk for co-occurring conduct problems (e.g., substance use, delinquency). The resulting adapted intervention was named SiHLE-YFC: Smart teens Informing, Healing, Living, Empowering for Youth in Foster Care.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual health promotion programming for youth in or at-risk for foster care: Improving knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

Boustani¹

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Among girls in foster care, 48% become pregnant at least once by age 19 (Dworkey & Courtney, 2010). Teen moms are less likely to graduate from high school and their children also are more likely to be placed in foster care due to abuse or neglect (Hoffman, 2006). Furthermore, 50% of 21-year-old men aging out of foster care report they have gotten someone pregnant, compared to 19% of their peers not involved in foster care (Courtney et al., 2007). Youth in or at-risk for foster care (YFC) report limited knowledge about, access to, and use of condoms; ambivalent attitudes toward teen parenting; and participation in other risky behaviors. For the current study, we adapted and supplemented an evidence-based sexual health program called SiHLE, using a systematic adaptation framework (ADAPT-ITT, Wingood & DiClemete, 2008), to address these unique and targeted needs of YFC. Thirty-six youth participated in four sessions of SiHLE-YFC during their stay at a temporary shelter. Four 90-minute sessions focused on increasing sexual health knowledge, improving attitudes toward and selfvii efficacy of condom use, and developing core skills such as problem-solving and communication. As hypothesized, youth showed high satisfaction with the intervention and significant improvement in sexual health knowledge from pre to post. At one month follow-up, youth continued to show significant improvement in sexual health knowledge, along with a significant reduction in risky sexual behaviors. Though not significant, there were moderate effect sizes for changes in attitudes toward teen pregnancy and condoms.There were no changes in attitudes towards teen parenting. Taken identify low-cost ways to disseminate evidence-based practices in communities of need, using indigenous resources; and (c) attend closely to workforce and organizational factors that support feasibility, effective implementation, and sustainability of evidence based practice. Public Health ImpactSignificant challenges in transporting evidence-based programs to community In this spirit, my research has developed along two lines. The first reflects that multiple poor outcomes share common underlying risk and resilience pathways, and seeks to examine modular approaches to prevention and intervention as a way to minimize the burden on community agencies. The second relates to forming and sustaining community partnerships and capacity building for the implementation of evidence-based programs in community settings. Common Elements to Risk and ResilienceComorbidities among mental health problems are high, and risky behaviors among youth tend to co-occur, reflecting overlap among the empirical predictors of poor outcomes such as substance abuse, conduct problems and sexual risk-taking. It stands to reason that if problems co-occur, so too might the tools and strategies we can use to build resilience Current and Future Directions. I am currently preparing a companion paper, for which I am exploring the common elements of empirically-supported prevention programming for element...

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Social problem solving: A moderator of the relation between negative life stress and depression symptoms in children

Cited by 73 publications

References 32 publications

Depression and Social Anxiety in Children: Differential Links with Coping Strategies

Depression and Social Anxiety in Children: Differential Links with Coping Strategies

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

Sexual health promotion programming for youth in or at-risk for foster care: Improving knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

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