Specific attempts to improve adolescent problem-solving capacities can be approached on two different levels. The first level is a universal intervention across a population. This would aim to increase personal resilience to developing depression and conduct disorder among the individuals in that population. The advantage of such programs is that they help a wide range of young people, not specifically those who are at risk. However, this may also represent a gross misallocation of resources since they target many adolescents who may neither need nor benefit from the intervention.

The second approach involves selective interventions, targeted at children who are already symptomatic, with a view to preventing the outcomes of suicide and risk-taking. These programs target resources on identified at risk individuals, thereby conserving them. However, there may be negative long-term consequences for a group of young people so specifically identified and perhaps labeled.

A brief review of some currently available programs may indicate ones that could be usefully employed to prevent suicide and risk-taking in a predisposed adolescent through the modification of cognitive variables either during the individual's development or once he or she has been identified as being at risk.

Programs to Improve Problem-Solving Skills

There are several programs that have been developed to improve problem solving by training children in this skill. One example of this type of program is the Problem Solving for Life Program (PSLP). The purpose of this program is to enhance problem-solving skills in young people.