Self-appraised social problem solving abilities, emotional reactions and actual problem solving performance

Self-report measures of social problem solving abilities have yet to be ass ociated with objective problem solving performance in any consistent manner . In the present study, we investigated the relation of social problem solv ing abilities - as measured by the Social Problem Solving Skills Inventory - Revised (SPSI-R [Maydeu-Olivares, A. & D'Zurilla, T. J. (1996). A factor analytic study of the Social Problem Solving Inventory: an integration of t heory and data. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 20, 115-133]) - to performa nce on a structured problem solving task. Unlike previous studies, we exami ned the relation of problem solving skills to performance curves observed i n repeated trials, while controlling for affective reactions to each trial. Using hierarchical modeling techniques, a negative problem orientation was significantly predictive of performance and this effect was not mediated b y negative affectivity. Results are discussed as they pertain to contempora ry models of social problem solving. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rig hts reserved.