The Relationship Between Social Problem-Solving and Passive-Aggressive Behavior Among Adolescents

TL;DR

This study explores how social problem-solving skills relate to passive-aggressive behaviors in Hungarian teenagers aged 16 and 18.

Contribution

The study identifies distinct problem-solving profiles and their links to passive-aggressive behaviors in adolescents.

Findings

18-year-olds show a stronger negative problem orientation compared to 16-year-olds.

Both age groups exhibit a strong relationship between criticism-impulsivity and ignoring-rationality.

Latent profile analysis reveals different passive-aggressive behavior patterns across age groups.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between passive-aggressive behavior and social problem-solving among Hungarian adolescents (16- and 18-year-olds, N = 496). The Passive Aggression Scale (PAS) was used to explore the characteristics of criticism, ignoring, and sabotage, and the Social Problem-Solving Inventory–Revised (SPSI–R) was employed to measure negative and positive problem orientations and rational, impulsive, and avoidant problem-solving styles. Both questionnaires performed reliably for both ages. The results show that 18-year-olds are more likely to have a negative problem orientation. Both age groups show a similarly strong positive relationship between criticism–impulsivity and ignoring–rationality. Based on a latent profile analysis, two problem-solving profiles (mixed and positive rational) were distinguished for 16-year-olds and three (mixed, positive rational, and negative avoidant) for 18-year-olds. Only the profiles obtained for the older age groups differ in passive-aggressive characteristics: criticism is most common for impulsive avoiders, ignoring is least typical of positive rationalists, and sabotage is most characteristic of mixed profiles. Developmental and socio-psychological features are usually well understood in these patterns, but a measure of various passive-aggressive behaviors is needed that is specific to adolescents.

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