The aim of this thesis was to investigate the contribution of cognitive, socioemotional, and person-related factors to age-group differences between younger and older adults, and to individual differences among older adults, in well-defined and ill-defined everyday problem solving.
The thesis includes three empirical studies. Study 1 involved the translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of Greek-language measures used in Studies 2 and 3. Study 2 compared younger and older adults in executive-function performance, positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, and performance on well-defined and ill-defined everyday problems. Younger adults performed better on executive-function tasks, well-defined problems, and ill-defined problems overall, but the two age groups performed comparably on interpersonal ill-defined problems. None of the cognitive or person-related variables measured in Study 2 were significantly associated with interpersonal ill-defined problem-solving performance.
Study 3 examined affective theory of mind, psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance, divergent-thinking performance, and self-perceptions of ageing as potential contributors to interpersonal ill-defined problem solving among older adults. Lower psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance showed the strongest independent association with better performance, while better affective theory of mind, higher divergent-thinking performance, and more positive self-perceptions of ageing also made significant independent contributions. Exploratory indirect-effect analyses indicated that creativity and self-perceptions of ageing may represent potential pathways in these associations. These cross-sectional analyses should not be interpreted as establishing causal mediation.
Overall, the findings support an integrated account of interpersonal problem solving in older adulthood, highlighting the importance of processes beyond executive-function decline. Affective theory of mind, psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance, divergent thinking, and self-perceptions of ageing may help explain individual differences in older adults’ ability to generate safe and effective solutions to socially and emotionally complex everyday problems.
