Social Goals and Strategies in Adolescent Peer Conflict Situations

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of important physical, social, emotional, and cognitive changes. Peer relationships become more complex and diverse, and adolescents must learn to negotiate varying relationship dynamics, including conflict with their peers. Limited research has been conducted, however, to understand how adolescents manage peer conflict. In order to expand the focus of research regarding social goals and strategies in adolescent peer conflict, 230 college students in late adolescence (ages 18-21) responded to 15 hypothetical conflict scenarios. The goals late adolescents' endorsed for peer conflicts were meaningfully related to the strategies they chose to resolve such conflicts. One-third of the sample was found to have a distinct 'goal orientation' in response to the peer conflict vignettes. As expected, adolescents in this study with different goal orientations were found to favor different strategies, and they endorsed strategies consistent with their specific goal orientation. In contrast to studies with children, few significant gender differences were found between men and women in their overall preferences for goals or strategies in peer conflicts situations. However, when males' and females' goal and strategy preferences were analyzed across different types of relationships (i.e., best friends, roommates, and romantic partners), significant gender differences were apparent. Late adolescent males showed little difference in their endorsement of conflict goals for a best friend or romantic partner; both were equally valued whereas roommates were viewed negatively. Women, in contrast, rated their best friends with a greater sense of priority than romantic partners or roommates. Implications of the results for understanding adolescents' conflict resolution skills with peers are discussed.