Esra DERELİ İMAN
Assist. Prof. Dr. Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Education, Turkey.

Abstract

Problem Statement: Children, like adults, face numerous problems and conflicts in their everyday lives, including issues with peers, siblings, older children, parents, teachers, and other adults. The methods children use to solve such problems are more important than actually facing the problems. The lack of effective social problem-solving skills among primary school children leads to larger problems such as learning difficulties during adolescence and adulthood, increased dropout potential, academic underachievement, bullying, and exposure to bullying. Sub-features of social problem solving, such as behavior problems, social-emotional adjustment, aggression, violence and anger in the primary school are evaluated by way of observations made by teachers and/or parents. The Social Problem- Solving Questionnaire (SPSQ) measures the methods used by the children in their interpersonal relations in their own words. As there are not any scales in Turkey that measure the social problem-solving skills of students in their own words at the first- and second-grade levels of primary school, it is important to adapt the SPSQ into the Turkish language for use in research and applications.

Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to translate the Wally Child Social Problem –Solving Detective Game Test developed by Webster–Stratton (1990) [(into Turkish and investigate its validity and reliability among Turkish primary school students)].

Methods: Forward and back translation methods were used to translate the Wally Child Social Problem–Solving Detective Game Test from English to Turkish. The Turkish form of the Wally Child Social Problem–Solving Detective Game Test and the Sears Aggression Scale were administered to 376 Turkish primary school students (median age M=8.10) in first and second grades. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the factor structure of the questionnaire. The relationship between social problem solving scores and aggression was assessed by calculating the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Additionally, internal consistency was evaluated by calculating Cronbach’s alpha, while item-total correlation, split-half, and test-retest reliability coefficients were calculated by Pearson correlation.

Findings and Results: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified two factors that account for 47.541 % of the variance. Factor 1, social problem solving for peers (eigenvalue=4.96), accounted for 35.473 % of the variance and included 9 items and item loadings that ranged from .59 to .73. Factor 2, social problem solving for adults (eigenvalue=2.07), accounted for 12.068 % of the variance and included 5 items and item loadings that ranged from .63 to .72. The CFA indicated that the two-factor model fit the data well: χ2 = 171.07, df= 76, χ2/df=2.25, RMSEA=.05, SRMR=.004, GFI=.92, AGFI=.90, CFI=.96. Sears Aggression Scale was used to check the criterion validity of the Wally Child Social Problem–Solving Detective Game Test,. There was negative moderate level correlation between social problem- solving subscales and Sears Aggression subscales. The Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients were .86 (social problem solving for peers), .73 (social problem solving for adults), and .85 (total social problem solving). The Spearman-Brown coefficients were .83 (social problem solving for peers), .71 (social problem solving for adults), and .75 (total social problem solving). The test-retest reliability coefficients for the total scale social problem solving, for social problem solving for peers, and for social problem solving for adults were .85, .86, and .83, respectively. The findings also indicated sufficient evidence in favor of the concurrent validity and reliability of the Turkish Wally Child Social Problem–Solving Detective Game Test.

Conclusions and Recommendations: The results of this study revealed that the 14-item Wally Child Social Problem–Solving Detective Game Test can be used to evaluate conduct problems and social problem-solving skills among Turkish primary school students between the ages of 7 and 8.

Keywords: Social problem solving, aggression, primary school, peer relationships, adult relationships.