FNT: A Research about the Relationships Among Conflict Styles, Face Concerns and Four Individual-level Elements: Gender, Age, Occupation and Degree of Education

Abstract

This study intends to examine the relationships among the four individual-level elements(i.e. age, gender, occupation and degree of education), face concerns and conflict styles in interpersonal conflicts in a certain culture. 205 participants from China were investigated by filling in a questionnaire survey. Significant results were discovered that gender mediates conflict styles while age and degree of education have respective links with face concerns among these Chinese participants: 1) In an interpersonal conflict, females relatively have a higher tendency to choose the avoiding style and comprising style while males relatively show a higher tendency to use the dominating style; 2) People from 30-50 years old have relatively highest concern for other faces, next are people above 50, and the last, people from 20-30 have relatively lowest concern for other faces; 3) Highly educated people in China show more concern for other faces than people with a low education background. Although more research is needed to examine how the four elements influence face concerns and conflict styles in other countries and cultures, and to identify the underlying factors that why age, gender and degree of education produce respective effects on face concerns or conflict styles, the current results can provide more detailed and recognizable predictors for Chinese people to foresee target persons face concern and choice of conflict styles in an interpersonal conflict.