SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS IN BOYS WITH CONDUCT AND OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDERS

The current study compared the social problem-solving skills of a clin ic-based sample of 30 boys diagnosed with conduct disorder (CD) and 25 boys diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Past researc h has indicated that contextual factors influence children's social pr oblem-solving; thus, three hypothetical conflict situations (i.e., chi ld-child, teacher-child, and parent-child) and situations which differ ed by degree of negative intent of the provocateur (i.e., hostile vs. ambiguous intent) were examined. Problem-solving strategies were aggre gated into three broad dimensions: 1) aggressive/antisocial solutions; 2) nonverbal-nonaggressive solutions; and 3) verbal-nonaggressive sol utions. Compared to ODD boys, CD boys proposed more aggressive/antisoc ial solutions in parent-child conflicts when parental intent was ambig uous and in teacher-child conflicts regardless of intent. Compared to ODD boys, CD boys proposed fewer verbal-nonaggressive solutions in chi ld-child conflicts. The implications of these findings for treatment i ntervention with CD and ODD boys were discussed. (C) 1997 Wiley Liss, Inc.