PROBLEM-SOLVING THINKING AND ADJUSTMENT AMONG DISADVANTAGED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The relationship between school behavior adjustment of 4-year-old disadvantaged children and real-life problem-solving thinking was studied and it was found that the ability to conceptualize alternative solutions to problems was the only parameter directly related to teacher-rated judgments of classroom behavior.

Abstract

SHURE, MYRNA B.; SPIVACK, GEORGE; and JAEGER, MARIANNE. Problemsolving Thinking and Adjustment among Disadvantaged Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1791-1803. The relationship between school behavior adjustment of 4-year-old disadvantaged children and real-life problem-solving thinking was studied. The latter includes 3 parameters of thought-conceptualization of solutions to typical peer and authority problems, consequential thinking, and causal thinking. Resulting data show that the ability to conceptualize alternative solutions to problems was the only parameter directly related to teacher-rated judgments of classroom behavior but that all 3 parameters were significantly interrelated. Implications are that increasing a child's ability to think in terms of alternative solutions to real-life problems could supplement a primary preventive mental health program.