Conflict Resolution Styles, Self-Efficacy, Self-Control, and Future Orientation of Urban Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the correlates and predictors of conflict resolution styles in a sample of urban seventh and eighth graders. Girls were found to rely on verbal assertion more frequently and aggressiveness less frequently than boys in the sample. Self-efficacy and self-control were found to be significant predictors of conflict resolution styles. Implications for school-based preventive interventions are discussed. ********** During adolescence, physical and cognitive changes occur that have dramatic implications for physiological maturation, intellectual, social, and emotional development. In terms of social and emotional development, skills associated with social competence are learned. Social competence refers to the range of interpersonal skills that help children integrate feelings, thinking, and action in order to achieve specific social and interpersonal goals (Caplan et al., 1992; Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins, 1998). Examples of such skills include encoding and interpreting relevant social cues, anticipating consequences to one's actions, and generating effective solutions to interpersonal problems (Elias, Gara, Schuyler, Branden-Muller, & Sayette, 1994). Promoting social competencies has been demonstrated as primary means of preventing psychosocial problems such as delinquency and drug use (Catalano et al., 1998; Chung & Elias, 1996; Durlak, 1980) and increasing academic achievement (Johnson, Johnson, & Dudley, 1992). Additionally, research on youth violence has revealed that violent adolescents often have deficits in social problem-solving skills (Dodge & Frame, 1982; Farrington, 1991) and hold beliefs and attitudes supportive of aggression (Guerra, Huesmann, & Hanish, 1995). In fact, teaching conflict resolution skills has been a major component of a variety of violence reduction programs in schools (Guiliano, 1994; Johnson, Johnson, Dudley, & Acikgoz, 1994; Tolan & Guerra, 1994). Thus, since the majority of homicides and violent injuries involving adolescents occur among friends and acquaintances rather than strangers (Hammond & Yung, 1993), it is critical to understand the development of conflict resolution skills in youth. Studies of conflict resolution skills and styles in youth are few. However, most have examined conflict within school settings. For example, DeCecco and Richards (1974) interviewed junior high and high school students about their perceptions of common social conflicts. They found that negotiation approaches to conflict were rare and, instead, avoidant or aggressive approaches to conflict were most commonly utilized. Interestingly, students estimated that over 90% of their conflicts remained unresolved or were resolved destructively regardless of the style utilized. Johnson et al. (1994) assessed children and adolescents' conflict resolution styles within the school context and found that telling teachers about the conflict was most common and both avoidant (i.e., passivity) and a request for change (i.e., assertiveness) were the next most frequently utilized styles. Verbal and physical force were rarely used. However, the samples studied in the aforementioned projects were predominantly middle class with no report of the ethnicity of their samples. Hence, it is difficult to know how relevant these findings are to diverse youth. How do youth develop conflict resolution skills? Conflict resolution skills, like all social competencies, are influenced by individual traits such as temperament, family traits such as parenting styles, peer factors such as pressures to adhere to group norms, and cultural factors such as gender and ethnic socialization (Brofenbrenner, 1986; Lind, Huo, & Tyler, 1994; Turner, Norman, & Zunz, 1995). Research has suggested that a child's sociocultural context is critically connected to preferred conflict resolution styles. For example, Lind et al. found that both gender and ethnicity influenced adolescents' preferences for conflict resolution styles such as persuasion and negotiation. …