Social Problem Solving Measure
Dodge‚ Bates & Pettit‚ 1990
Adapted by Aber‚ Brown‚ Jones & Samples‚ 1995
1. Pretend this is YOU and that this is a boy or girl in your class. The other child has been on the swing for a long‚ long time and doesn’t seem to want to share the swing with you. You would really like to play on the swing.
What would you say or do so that YOU could play on the swing?
Would you:
A. say‚ “You’d better let me play?B. ask them to share the swing?C. ask the teacher to make him get off the swing?D. tell the teacher to not let them play anymore?E. just leave?
2. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class. Let’s also pretend that this is your first day at school and YOU would like to be friends with them‚ but they don’t say anything to you.
What would you say or do so that YOU could get to be friends with this boy or girl?
Would you:
A. wait until they talked to you?B. let them ride your bike so that they’d be your friend?C. ask the teacher to make them play with you?D. say‚ “You’d better play with me?E. ask the teacher to make them sit alone?
3. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class. YOU just got a good spot near the front of the line to go outside and someone pushes you out of line and takes your place.
What would you say or do so that YOU could get your place back in line?
Would you:
A. ask the teacher to make them give you your place back?B. push them back?C. go to the back of the line?D. ask the teacher to make them go to the back of the line?E. say‚ Can I have my place back?
4. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class‚ who is racing with other kids on their bikes. YOU would like to play with them‚ but they haven’t asked you.
What would you say or do to get to play with them?
Would you:
A. ask your mom or dad to make them play with you?B. tell them they’d better play with you?C. ask them if you could play?D. watch them play?E. ask your mom or dad to make them stop racing?
5. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class. YOU are playing a game and you realize that they have taken your turn.
What would you say or do so that YOU could get your turn?
Would you:
A. skip their turn?B. just forget about it?C. tell your mom or dad to let you win because they skipped your turn?D. ask if they skipped your turn?E. tell your mom or dad to make them give you your turn?
6. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class‚ who is playing tag with some other kids. YOU would really like to play with them‚ but they haven’t asked you.
What would you say or do to get to play with them?
Would you:
A. tell the teacher to make them stop playing?B. just start playing with them?C. ask the teacher to make them play with you?D. go sit by yourself?E. call them bad names?
7. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class. YOU are both on the playground and the person starts calling you names and making fun of you.
What would you say or do to get them to stop teasing you?
Would you:
A. cry?B. call them names too?C. ask them to stop?D. tell the teacher to make them stop?E. tell the teacher to make them sit alone?
8. Pretend that this is YOU and that this is another boy or girl in your class‚ who is choosing sides for kickball with some other kids. YOU would really like to play with them‚ but they haven’t asked you.
What would you say or do to get to play kickball?
Would you:
A. offer to keep score if you could play the next game?B. go sit with the teacher?C. take the ball so that they couldn’t play?D. ask the teacher to take the ball away?E. ask the teacher to put you on a team?
(Aber‚ et al.‚ 1995‚ adapted all responses for the multiple choice format. The pictures were also modified to include a representation of racial and ethnic diversity among subjects portrayed.)
- Interpersonalstrategies
- proactive situations
This instrument can be found on pages 252-263 of Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes‚ Behaviors‚ and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools‚ available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf
Point values are assigned as follows:
Aggressive response = 0
Competent response = 1
Authority/punish response = 2
Authority/intervene response = 3
Passive/inept response = 4
Point values for each response category are given on the following page along with scoring information for two subscales
For each item‚ the point values are:
Item | Response | Value | Item | Response | Value |
1 | A | 0 | 5 | A | 0 |
B | 1 | B | 4 | ||
C | 3 | C | 2 | ||
D | 2 | D | 1 | ||
E | 4 | E | 3 | ||
2 | A | 4 | 6 | A | 2 |
B | 1 | B | 1 | ||
C | 3 | C | 3 | ||
D | 0 | D | 4 | ||
E | 2 | E | 0 | ||
3 | A | 3 | 7 | A | 4 |
B | 0 | B | 0 | ||
C | 4 | C | 1 | ||
D | 2 | D | 3 | ||
E | 1 | E | 2 | ||
4 | A | 3 | 8 | A | 1 |
B | 0 | B | 4 | ||
C | 1 | C | 0 | ||
D | 4 | D | 2 | ||
E | 2 | E | 3 |
Two subscales are created. The Aggressive Strategy subscale is scored by recoding items to either aggressive response (1) or non-aggressive response (0)‚ and then calculating an average. The Competent Strategy subscale is scored by recoding items to either competent response (1) or non-competent response (0)‚ and then calculating an average..
Dodge KA‚ Bates JE‚ Pettit GS. Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. Science 1990;250:1678-1683.
Aber JL‚ Brown JL‚ Jones S‚ Samples F. Adapting measures of children’s beliefs‚ attributions and skills for use in the evaluation of violence prevention projects. New York‚ NY: National Center for Children in Poverty‚ Columbia University‚ 1995
Cite this article
mohammad looti (2026). Social Problem Solving Measure. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/social-problem-solving-measure/
mohammad looti. "Social Problem Solving Measure." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 26 Apr. 2026, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/social-problem-solving-measure/.
mohammad looti. "Social Problem Solving Measure." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2026. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/social-problem-solving-measure/.
mohammad looti (2026) 'Social Problem Solving Measure', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/social-problem-solving-measure/.
[1] mohammad looti, "Social Problem Solving Measure," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, April, 2026.
mohammad looti. Social Problem Solving Measure. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2026;vol(issue):pages.