Beyond the Role of Loneliness in Psychological Ill-Being and Well-Being in Females: Do Social Problem-Solving Processes Still Matter?

In the present study, we examined whether social problem-solving processes would add predictive utility over loneliness in accounting for unique variance in ill-being (viz., depressive symptoms and suicide behavior) and well-being (viz., life satisfaction and positive affect) in a sample of 230 females. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that social problem-solving processes added significant predictive utility in accounting for unique variance in depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and positive affect. Moreover, negative problem orientation emerged as a significant unique predictor of both ill-being and well-being. In contrast, positive problem orientation emerged as a significant unique predictor of well-being and only one index of ill-being. Some implications of the present findings are discussed