Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: influence of domain specificity and cognitive appraisal.
Differences in problem-solving strategies for situations varying in three domains, consumer, home management, and conflict with friends, were examined among younger, middle-aged, and older adults. In addition, this study examined the influence of perceived ability to resolve the problem, controllability, and causal attributions on strategy selection. In the 2 instrumental domains, older adults were more problem focused in their approach than adolescents and younger adults, whereas adolescents and younger adults selected more passive-dependent strategies. In the more interpersonal domain, conflict with friends, older adults tended to select avoidant-denial strategies more so than younger adults. Finally, across domains, the greater the perceived ability to resolve a problem the less the avoidant-denial strategy was selected. The importance of distinguishing between social and instrumental problem solving and of examining the cognitive appraisal of a problem situation are discussed.
Blanchard-Fields
F
F
School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta 30332-0170, USA. fb12@prism.gatech.edu
Chen
Y
Y
Norris
L
L
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003210:Concept Formation; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D014825:Vocabulary