SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING DEFICITS, DEPENDENCY, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

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.