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Collaborative everyday problem solving among same-gender friends in early and later adulthood.
Jonell Strough1, Joseph P McFall, Jennifer A Flinn
1Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6040, USA. JoNell.Strough@mail.wvu.edu
Psychology and Aging
|September 24, 2008
Summary
Older adults effectively utilized their collaborative potential when solving interpersonal problems with friends, showing comparable strategy use to younger adults. This highlights age-related collaboration dynamics in problem-solving.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Collaboration can lead to performance gains or losses.
- Age-related differences in collaborative problem-solving are not fully understood.
- Familiar partners may influence collaborative outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in collaborative strategy generation.
- To examine performance gains and losses in older versus younger adult pairs.
- To compare collaborative performance with individual potential.
Main Methods:
- Compared older and younger adult friend pairs solving interpersonal and instrumental problems.
- Assessed strategy fluency (total and unique strategies) and strategy type.
- Compared interacting pair performance with nominal pair scores (individual potential).
Main Results:
- Age differences in strategy fluency and type were similar to individual problem-solving research.
- Interacting pairs generated fewer strategies than nominal pairs, with no difference in strategy type.
- Older adults were more likely to actualize their dyadic potential for interpersonal problems.
Conclusions:
- Collaboration dynamics differ between age groups, particularly for interpersonal issues.
- Older adults effectively leverage dyadic potential in familiar collaborative contexts.
- Findings suggest age-related strengths in collaborative problem-solving.
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