Adolescents' value systems, preferred resolution strategies, and conflict with parents

Abstract

This study addressed the relationship among value systems, conflict-resolution processes, and levels of conflict between young people in middle adolescence and their parents. Male and female adolescents rated both care and justice values in regard to their relationship with their parents. They also indicated their preferred resolution strategies for dealing with intergenerational disputes and reported the general level of conflict with their own parents by completing the Conflict Behaviour Questionnaire. Mediation analyses revealed that a care value-system was both directly associated with lower level of family conflict and indirectly, through a preference for problem-solving strategies, as well as negatively associated with a preference for contending strategies. A justice value-system had no direct association with levels of family conflict but was positively associated with a preference for contending strategies. Level of conflict was negatively related to a preference for problem-solving strategies and positively related to a preference for contending strategies. The results suggest that fostering care values may be a valuable preventive approach to managing family conflict during this developmental period.