INTERPERSONAL COGNITIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION

Ineffective decision-making skills and problem-solving strategies are frequently identified as barriers to positive adult outcomes for peopl e with mental retardation. This includes social or interpersonal cogni tive problem-solving skills, although little research exists to evalua te cognitive problem-solving in this group. In non-social problem-solv ing, people with mental retardation typically exhibit inflexible patte rns of problem-solving, relying overly on limited strategies. The pres ent study provides an initial description of interpersonal cognitive p roblem-solving in this area and examines the use of one assessment pro cedure, the Means-Ends Problem-Solving procedure. Using this assessmen t, adults with mental retardation were found to employ limited means t o solving social problems and to generate proportionally fewer relevan t means than expected. The relationship between component elements of self-determination and social problem-solving are discussed, as is the importance of this area in promoting self-determination.