A COMPARISON OF THE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF JUVENILES FROM YOUTH CENTERS BY DIFFERENT VARIABLES

This research aims to review the problem solving skills of juveniles from the Youth Centers in Turkey in terms of different variables. The research population comprises 95 students between the ages of 19.73 ±2.20 who are the representatives of the juvenile members of 135 Youth Centers in Turkey. The sample group consists of 78 voluntary students. The Problem Solving Inventory, developed by Hepner and Peterson (1982) and adopted into Turkish by Şahin, Şahin and Heppner (1993), has been used in the research. The inventory measures how individuals percept and evaluate depression, interpersonal relations, career choices etc, their problem solving abilities, not their actual abilities. It also measures their self-confidence in problem-solving. A duplex questionnaire has been applied to measure the problem solving skills of the sample. The first part consists of demographic information on the students. The second part comprises a likert scale that has 35 items and measures the problem solving skills. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was α=,809. The frequency, t-test, Anova test and Krusukal-Wallis test were used to obtain statistical data. 0.05 significance level was selected. According to research findings, there is a significant difference in the lower dimension of inventory’s hasty approach in terms of gender and family income level variable, in the lower dimension of avoidant and self-confident in terms of the type of school, in the level dimension of considering, avoidant and a planned approach in terms of sporting variable. The inventory does not represent a significant difference in any lower dimension between age and region variable that they represent. As a result, representative male student members of Youth Centers have a higher problem solving skills than female students. Four-year college education and active sporting have a positive effect on problem-solving skills. And also it has been determined that the high income levels have a negative effect on problem solving skills. However, it has been determined that there are no significant differences in the problem solving skills of the juveniles in the sample by age or region variables