Conflict Resolution Tactics in Japan, India and the U.S.A.

Abstract

The family, once idealized as a harmonious unit, has increasingly come to be viewed as an arena of much violence. Today no one denies the prevalence of violence between spouses in American society. An intrinsically worthwhile project on conjugal violence has been widely conducted by Murray Straus and his associates in the American context. It is logical now to extend the study of conjugal violence through cross-cultural perspectives in order to test the generalizability of Straus' insights.Conjugal violence in the Japanese, Indian and American family was studied. Information concerning family structures reported by 635 Japanese, 391 Indian, and 139 American high school seniors to the family conflict resolution study questionnaires is the basis of this study. Four major findings emerged. First, high reliability and adequate validity of the Conflict Resolution Tactics Scale (CRTS) were obtained. This fact reassured us about our usage of the scale in cross-cultural studies in this area. Secondly, the degree of conjugal violence was exceedingly high in American spouses followed by Japanese and then by Indian couples. This finding may reflect the nature of culture in each society, i.e., expressive American culture, reserved Japanese culture, and non-violent Indian culture. Thirdly, conflict resolution tactics between spouses in these three societies related closely to the principle of reciprocity. If the husband is intellectually oriented, his wife also tries to be intellectual in their conflict management. However, there is a tendency for the wife to become more aggressive if her husband tends to be abusive. Fourthly, it was revealed that the application of catharsis theory for the analysis of conjugal violence wan not adequate. In other words, verbal aggression could not be conceived of as an alternative to physical violence.Many studies are needed to discover the causes of conjugal violence. These efforts should contribute to the reduction of the level of abuse suffered by women in our society.