Abstract:

Problem solving and social problem solving has been studied increasingly by many scholars in recent years. D’Zurilla and Golfried (1971) defined problem as any life situation that demands a response for adaptive or effective functioning. A situation becomes a problem for an individual when this situation disturbs him/her, when this situation is perceived as a problem or when the individual faces an obstacle in reaching his/her objective (Bingham, 1998; D’Zurilla & Nezu, 1982; Morgan, 1999). Problem solving can be defined as the best way to overcome obstacles in such situations.

House (1981) defined social support as “the flow of emotional concern, instrumental aid, and /or appraisal (information relevant to self evaluation) between people. Social support from the separate sources (family members, friends and co-workers) can be beneficial (Ganster, Fusilier &Mayes, 1986). Social support may be defined in terms of four different types: emotional (providing empathy, caring and love), informational (offering information and advise to help deal with a problem), instrumental (providing time, resources or skills) and appraisal (providing information or feedback on performance) (House, 1981; Cohen, 2004).

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between university students’ perceived social support and their social problem solving levels. To that end the study investigated the effects of gender, educational level of parents variables on social problem solving skills of university students. The sample of the research was consisted of totally 586 students, of which 324 were male and 262 were female. The research data were collected using Social Problem Solving Scale (1996; Dora, 2003) and Social Support Scale (Yıldırım, 2004) .
Data collection and analysis are still in progress. The findings will be discussed in the light of the relevant literature.


REFERENCES
Bingham, A. (1998). Çocuklarda Problem Çözme Yeteneklerinin Geliştirilmesi. (Çev: A.F. Oğuzkan. İstanbul, MEB Yayınevi.

Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59, 676-684.

Dora, S. (2003). Sosyal Problem Çözme Envanteri (Revize Edilmiş Formu)’nin Türkçe’ye Uyarlaması. Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışmaları. Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü: Ankara.

D’Zurilla, T.J.& Nezu, A. (1982). Social problem solving in adults, In P.C. Kendall. (Ed), Advances in cognitive-behavioral research and therapy, 1. (1), 201-274. New York: Academic Press.

D’Zurilla, T.J. & Goldfried, M. R. (1971). Problem Solving and behavior modification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 78(1), 107-126.

Ganster, D. C., Fusilier, M.R. & Mayes, B.T. (1986). The social support and health relationship: Is there a gender differences? Journal of Occupational Psychology, 51, 145-153.

House, J.S. (1981). Work, stres and social support. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.


Yıldırım, İ. (2004). Algılanan Sosyal Destek Ölçeğinin Revizyonu. Eğitim Araştırmaları. Sonbahar, yıl:5 sayı:17.

Keywords:

social problem solving, social support, university students.