Depressive symptoms have been linked to deficits in social problem sol
ving. We extended earlier work by evaluating the specificity of proble
m-solving deficits to depressive (vs. anxiety) symptoms and by incorpo
rating another correlate of depression, interpersonal dependency. Spec
ifically, we addressed (a) a prediction that problem-solving skill and
dependency would correlate inversely and (b) the question of whether
problem-solving skill is associated with depressive symptom severity,
controlling for dependency. In an unselected sample (N = 115), results
varied for different aspects of social problem solving Problem-solvin
g skills (e.g., generating multiple alternatives, evaluating pros and
cons before deciding) were unrelated to depressive symptoms, anxiety s
ymptoms or dependency. Problem orientation (a constructive attitude to
ward problems involving seeing them as manageable challenges) was inve
rsely related to dependency and to both depressive and anxiety symptom
severity. The relation between problem orientation and depressive sym
ptoms was reduced but not eliminated by controlling statistically for
dependency.