• Teenagers face particular problems, such as peer pressure, that can require a sense of autonomy and competence to solve.hot winter image by Frenk_Danielle Kaufmann from Fotolia.com
  
  Youth refers to either children and adolescents or adolescents only. As youth progress in their development toward adulthood, they must develop needed conflict resolution and problem-solving skills. Parents and caregivers teach problem-solving skills to children and adolescents at different stages of life development, such as learning to trust and play well with others. Key problem-solving skills that youth must learn include self-control, flexibility and cognitive reasoning.
  
  

Self-control

• To be effective problem-solvers, youth must develop self-control. Self-control has its foundation in self-confidence and effective interpersonal skills, which develop in time with parental guidance and encouragement. Effective conflict resolution requires problem-solvers to restrain their personal emotions and abstain from violence as a problem-solving tool.
  
  

Flexibility

• While restricting a child's choices to two options makes decision-making easy in early childhood, effective problem-solvers must have flexibility to solve problems with multiple options. Flexibility can be learned progressively as a child develops toward adulthood by increasing options in accordance with age. Problem-solvers who realize that sometimes more options are available than those presented can conjure creative solutions that produce win-win results for parties involved.
  
  

Cognitive Reasoning

• Problem-solvers must process information given and access any previous knowledge to make decisions. This is a difficult task for anyone whose knowledge about the problem is limited. Youth must learn how to mentally compute details about a situation and reason out how to effectively address the situation in that moment if necessary or return to the problem following research. While applications of this can be limited in a typical youth's life, adolescents are faced with a regular onslaught of problems that arise with increased autonomy. Problems such as peer pressure and personal academic performance require youth to weigh complicated consequences, such as pregnancy, for choices.