Social problem solving among popular and unpopular children

The present study investigated two issues related to children's social status and problem solving: the content of problem-solving measures and judgments of the quality of responses to social problems. Three types of social problem situations were studied: peer entry/initiation, maintaining social interaction, and management of conflict. The quality of children's strategies for solving these problems was rated on two dimensions: effectiveness and social competence. Liked-most children obtained significantly more effective and socially competent ratings than liked-least children for only one of the social problem situations-management of conflict. Significant differences between liked-most and liked-least children were also found between the quality of their best effective and best socially competent solution and their worst socially competent solutions. Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric adequacy of social problem-solving measures and the resultant problems in interpretation.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by the first author to the Graduate School, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The first author appreciates the assistance of her dissertation committee: John Brantley, Donald Bailey, Barbara Goldman, and Rune Simeonsson. We also thank Carolyn Jackson, Alex Epanchin, Joanne Edelman, and the kindergarten teachers and assistants in Durham, North Carolina, for their help with data collection, Michael Fimian for his statistical help, Joanne Gartenmayer for her help with editing, and Karen Thigpen for her help with typing.