Abstract
Examined the impact of two subject variables (age and gender) and two contextual factors (antagonist age and nature of the social dilemma) on children's social problem solving (SPS). Preschoolers (N=62) were individually presented with four stories that varied the antagonist age (peer vs. adult) and social dilemma (nonsexual vs. sexual). Responses were coded for three SPS variables: number of alternative solutions, solution content, and planfulness. Younger preschoolers were less competent problem solvers in all types of unsafe situations, and, compared to girls, some aspects of boys' problem solving were compromised in sexual encounters. Results also suggest that the nature of the social dilemma, but not the age of the antagonist, affects perschoolers' SPS. Children generated fewer alternative solutions and fewer effective strategies to the sexual encounters compared to the nonsexual dilemmas. Findings are discussed in relation to research on children's SPS and child sexual abuse prevention efforts.
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Portions of this paper were presented at the 1991 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA, as well as in M. P. McGrath (Chair), “New Perspectives on Sexual Abuse Education for Preschoolers,” symposium conducted at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA. The authors thank Ray Frankmann, Grace Gibson, Karen Kiemel, Belle Liang, Marianne McGrath, and Tim Speth for their help in the preparation of this manuscript.
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Grober, J.S., Bogat, G.A. Social problem solving in unsafe situations: Implications for sexual abuse education programs. Am J Commun Psychol 22, 399–414 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506872
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506872