Preschool Children's Social Problem‐Solving in Hungary and Vojvodina Based on Parents' and Teachers' Opinions

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to explore parents' and teachers' opinions about preschoolers' social problem‐solving and the role of parents' educational attainment and family structure in social problem‐solving, comparing these results in Hungary ( n = 162) and Vojvodina ( n = 147). We used Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Social Problem‐Solving Parent/Teacher Questionnaire (SPSQ) for the latter drawing on the social problem‐solving model of Chang et al. which has two processes, problem orientation (positive, negative) and three problem‐solving styles (rational, impulsive, avoidant). Based on the results, parents' and teachers' evaluations are generally different, in both samples' parents perceive children as much more prosocial than teachers, and teachers have a more negative perception of children's attitude towards problem‐solving than parents. The triangulation research—where mothers, fathers and teachers evaluated the children—revealed several differences in the perceptions of parents and teachers in Vojvodina and Hungary. One of our findings from the comparison showed that frequency of positive problem orientation in SPS was differently perceived in both samples by the raters: according to which Vojvodina mothers and fathers found these higher in 4‐year‐olds, additionally in 5‐year‐olds by fathers, while in Hungary, this was perceived only by teachers in 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds. In both the Hungarian and the Vojvodina samples, parental education explained the psychological factors examined differently. The main message of the research is that there are significant differences in the perceptions of both parents and teachers, but also of mothers and fathers in both samples, and this is particularly true in the case of externalising problems.