Conflict resolution strategies of Filipino adolescents in two emotional contexts: The roles of gender of target and self-construals

• Main Author: Salanga, Maria Guadalupe C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Teenagers; Adolescents; Adolescence—Social aspects > Philippines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/169; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/1168/viewcontent/CDTG004286_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

A sequential exploratory research design was utilized to examine the role of the gender of the individual evidencing a specific set of emotions (either appeasement or supplication) and the self-construal of the other party in the utilization of conflict resolution strategies in cross-sex peer relations of adolescents. The first phase of the study focused on gathering the typical themes of conflict events and conflict resolution strategies for use in the questionnaire for the succeeding phases of the study. Conflict themes and resolution strategies were gathered by means of a focus group discussion with 28 university / college students. Participants were asked to recall conflict events wherein they experienced appeasement and supplication emotions. In addition, they were asked to recall the strategies that they utilized to handle the specific conflict event. The most common theme of conflict event was the non-fulfillment of assigned academic responsibilities. The conflict strategies that were utilized by participants across the two types of emotions were oriented towards being accommodating to the other individual in the conflict exchange and displaying behaviors that served the purpose of avoiding the further escalation of conflict. The second phase of the study analyzed conflict resolution strategies utilized in conflict events with an opposite-sex friend evidencing either appeasement or supplication emotions. A between-subjects experimental design was used for this phase. There were two studies conducted to capture the two emotional contexts integral in study, one for appeasement emotions and another for supplication emotions. In the questionnaire, the participants were presented with a vignette wherein they are in conflict with an opposite sex friend (the target) who is evidencing either appeasement or supplication emotions. One hundred eighty six participants were involved in the second phase of the study. There were separate studies conducted for appeasement emotions (45 females and 50 males) and supplication emotions (45 females and 46 males). Results of the two studies reveal that there were no significant differences in the conflict resolution strategies utilized when in conflict with a male friend or a female friend. The third phase of the study is similar to the second phase but with the addition of culture as an independent variable. The third phase also looks into the role of the participants construction of the self in the context of interpersonal relations. Results indicate that the gender of the target, as opposed to self-construals made dominant in the cognitive frame of the respondents, has a significant main effect on conflict resolutions strategies utilized in conflict interactions with a friend of the opposite gender.