BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Fall 2016 Conflict Resolution in Children and the Association Between Parenting Style and the Children’s Own Social Skills Afroza Parvin As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.edu/theses Part of the Child Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Parvin, Afroza, "Conflict Resolution in Children and the Association Between Parenting Style and the Children’s Own Social Skills" (2016).
MSU Graduate Theses.edu/theses/3038 This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact BearWorks@library. CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN CHILDREN AND THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARENTING STYLE AND THE CHILDREN’S OWN SOCIAL SKILLS A Masters Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science, Early Childhood & Family Development By Afroza Parvin December, 2016 Copyright 2016 by Afroza Parvin ii CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN CHILDREN AND THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARENTING STYLE AND THE CHILDREN’S OWN SOCIAL SKILLS Childhood Education & Family Studies Missouri State University, December 2016 Master of Science Afroza Parvin ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to investigate the associations among parenting styles, social skills and conflict resolution strategies of children with their peers.
Twenty children aged 5 to 10 years and twenty parents participated in the study. The Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire and an adapted questionnaire from The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) were used to measure parental styles and social skills of children respectively. Children were interviewed to assess their conflict resolution strategies by using six hypothetical stories taken from two different studies. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data analyses.
The findings suggested associations among parenting styles, social skills and conflict resolution strategies. Results showed that inappropriate assertiveness was positively related with less desirable and negatively related to more desirable conflict resolution strategies. Positive aspects of parenting were positively related to children’s use of positive strategies and negatively related to less desirable strategies in response to conflict resolution. Less desirable aspects of parenting were negatively related with children’s positive way of resolving conflict.
Results also showed that parenting aspects and children’s social skills together predicted children’s conflict resolution strategies in addition to their individual impacts. KEYWORDS: parenting style, social skills, peer conflict, conflict resolution, conflict resolution strategies. This abstract is approved as to form and content _______________________________ Dr. Test Chairperson, Advisory Committee Missouri State University iii CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN CHILDREN AND THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARENTING STYLE AND THE CHILDREN’S OWN SOCIAL SKILLS By Afroza Parvin A Masters Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Early Childhood & Family Development December 2016 Approved: _______________________________________ Dr.
Julie Masterson: Dean, Graduate College iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Test for teaching me, guiding me, and supporting me throughout this research experience. Her willingness to plan and work with me through any circumstances is deeply valued. I also wish to thank Dr.
Cunningham and Dr. Brinson for their valuable times and suggestions in addition to serving on my thesis committee. Furthermore, I would like to thank to Dr. Joanna Cemore Brigden and Dr.
Hae Min Yu for their suggestions and constructive feedback and to serve on my thesis committee at the very beginning of this study. Through the encouragement and guidance of all of the committee members, I was able to learn more about conducting research and how to extend my ideas further. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Overview of the Study………………………………………………………. 1 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………….
1 Research Purpose and Questions………………………………………………. 4 Significance of the Study. 4 Chapter II: Review of Related Literature………………………………………………. 5 Children’s Conflict Resolution Strategies……………………………………… 5 Children’s Social Skills and Conflict Resolution………………………….
6 Parenting and Conflict Resolution of Children………………………………… 7 Parenting and Children’s Social Skills………………………………………. 11 Chapter III: Methodology ……………………………………………………………… 12 Research Design………………………………………………………………. 12 Study Site and Participants……………………………………………………. 13 Data Collection Procedures…………………………………………………….
14 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………… 16 Chapter IV: Results……………………………………………………………………. 18 Characteristics of the Participants……………………………………………. 18 Parenting Styles, Social Skills, and Conflict Resolution Strategies…………. 20 Relationships Between Parenting Styles and Conflict Resolution Strategies….
22 Relationships Between Conflict Resolution Strategies and Social Skills……. 25 Relationships Between Parenting Styles, Children’s Social Skills, and Children’s Conflict Resolution Strategies……………………………………. 26 Chapter V: Discussion………………………………………………………………… 40 Parenting Styles and Conflict Resolution……………………………………. 40 Children’s Social Skills and Their Conflict Resolution Strategies…………….
41 Relationships Between Parenting Styles, Children’s Social Skills, and Children’s Conflict Resolution Strategies……………………………………. Letter of Consent…………………………………………………. Assent to Participate in a Research Study………………………. Parenting Style Questionnaire………………………………….
Social Skills Questionnaire……………………………………… 60 Appendix F. Pre-defined Categories for Coding Interviews…………………. 63 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Characteristics of Children (N=20) Ranging in Age from 5-10 Years 18 Old: Mean (SD)=8.
Characteristics of Parents, Percent of Total Sample (N=20)………. Descriptive Statistical Analysis for Parenting Styles and Sub-factors of Parenting Styles, Scores on Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) Among Sample of N=20…………………………… 21 Table 4. Descriptive Statistical Analysis of children’s Use of Social Skills Mentioned in Social Skills Questionnaire……………………………. Descriptive Statistical Analysis of Children’s Use of Conflict Resolution Strategies Across All Six Conflict Situations…………………….
Bivariate Correlations (r) Between Conflict Resolution Strategies and Major Categories of Parenting Styles…………………………………. Bivariate Correlations (r) Between Conflict Resolution Strategies and Sub-factors of Parenting Styles………………………………………… 24 Table 8. Bivariate Correlations (r) Between Social Skills and Conflict Resolution Skills………………………………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Reasoning/ Induction to Predict Coercion…………………………………….
Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Physical Coercion to Predict Coercion………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Verbal Hostility to Predict Coercion………………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Warmth/Support to Predict Negotiation………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Reasoning/Induction to Predict Negotiation……………………………….
Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and 30 Democratic Participation to Predict Negotiation……………………………… viii Table 15. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Physical Coercion to Predict Negotiation…………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Verbal Hostility to Predict Negotiation……………………………………………… 32 Table 17. Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Non- reasoning to Predict Negotiation…………………………………………….
Multiple Regression Using Inappropriate Assertiveness, and Indulgent to Predict Negotiation……………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Warmth/Support to Predict Tell Child…………………………………………………………… 34 Table 20. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Physical Coercion to Predict Tell Child…………………………………………………………… 35 Table 21. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Indulgent to Predict Tell Child………………………………………………………………………….
Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Verbal Hostility to Predict Ask Adult…………………………………………………………… 36 Table 23. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Democratic Participation to Predict Other………………………………………………. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Physical Coercion to Predict “Other” Category of Conflict Resolution…………………………… 38 Table 25. Multiple Regression Using Impulsive, and Non-reasoning to Predict 39 “Other” Category of Conflict Resolution…………………………… ix x CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY Educators and early childhood professionals are interested in conflict resolution of young children because it has important contributions to children’s cognitive and social development (Shantz, 1987; Shantz & Hobart, 1989).
Unresolved conflicts with peers can be violent and destructive, perceived by many teachers and parents as a sign of failure in socialization (Shantz & Hobart, 1989). While experiences with peer conflict are thought to reduce egocentrism (Piaget, 1966), promote social adjustment (Dunn & Slomkowski, 1992), and provide opportunities for learning how to regulate emotions (Katz, Kramer, & Gottman, 1992), high and frequent conflicts are considered to be a serious risk for subsequent behavior problems (Kupersmidt, Burchinal, & Patterson, 1995; Sebanc, 2003). Peer conflicts are seen frequently in the lives of young children (Genishi & DiPaolo, 1982; Killen & Cords, 1998; Shantz, 1987; Shantz & Hartup, 1992). Children can maintain good social relations by resolving conflicts adaptively (Killen & de Waal, 2000).
Statement of the Problem Recently, researchers and educators are focusing on intervention programs to help children learn to resolve conflicts in the best adaptive way to foster social adjustment. To do so, better understanding is required of the factors that influence children’s conflict resolution strategies. Conflict can be described as a situation when two children encounter one another with opposing views or disagreement (Laursen & Pursell, 2009). Conflict can also be 1 characterized as hostile or angry behavior that involves aggression (Hartup, 1992).
Conflicts can be characterized with distinct features, including the initiation of conflict and opposition, conflict resolution strategies, and the outcome. Among many other issues, disputes over possessions appear to be the most common situations that begin conflicts for preschool children (Hay, 1984). Children use different types of strategies, and sometimes multiple strategies, including coercion, avoidance, and compromise to resolve conflict (Joshi, 2008). Studies suggested that children use a conciliatory strategy to resolve conflict, where they use friendly overtures, verbal clarifications, apologies, acquiescence, play invitations and prosocial behaviors (Ljungberg, Westlund, & Foresberg,1999; Butovskaya, Verbeek, Ljungberg, & Lunardini, 2000; Sackin & Thelen,1984; Verbeek & de Waal, 2001).
The conciliatory strategy often helps children to go on to resume social play and decreases the likelihood of engaging in aggressive behavior after conflict (Ljungberg, Westlund, & Foresberg, 1999). Prosocial behaviors are also viewed as a strategy for conflict resolution. Prosocial behaviors such as sharing resources, cooperating, and providing assistance represent voluntary acts intended to promote the wellbeing of others (Spivak, 2016). Children’s prosocial behavior has been related to building and maintaining good interpersonal relationships (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006).
Prosocial strategies of conflict resolution provide greater chances of socially adaptive outcomes (Spivak, 2016). The last segment of a conflict situation is called the outcome, and can be characterized in terms of children’s interaction following conflict (Sackin & Thelen, 1984; Verbeek & de Waal, 2001). Outcomes of peer conflict seem to be unresolved situations, unequal resolutions, or mutually beneficial solutions (Shantz, 1987; Wilson, 1988). 2 Previous research on conflict resolution with peers has mostly taken into consideration children’s factors, such as social understanding, age, gender, peer relations, and goals.
In addition, some family factors in relation to peer conflict resolution have also been studied, such as socio-economic background, intrafamily conflict, and maternal communication. However, little attention has been paid to how parenting influences children’s conflict resolution with peers. Therefore, in the present study both child and family factors were taken into consideration for better understanding of children’s conflict resolution strategies. Parenting styles were the family factors and children’s social skills were the child factors in the study.
How social skills of children and parenting styles contributed together in children’s conflict resolution strategies was also a focus in this study. Research Purpose and Questions The purpose of the study was to investigate the associations among parenting style, children’s social skills and conflict resolution strategies of young children, aged 5 to 10 years. The following research questions were designed to meet the purpose of the present study: 1. Is there any relationship between children’s conflict resolution strategies and parenting styles? 2.
Is there any relationship between children’s conflict resolution strategies and their own social skills? 3. Is there any association among conflict resolution strategy, parenting style, and children’s social skills? 3 Research Design A mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) design was used to answer the research questions of the present study. Twenty children and either of their parents were recruited from Astoria, New York. Parenting styles and children’s social skills were measured by using quantitative questionnaires and children’s conflict resolution strategies were measured through qualitative interviews.
Interviews were coded using pre-defined categories and transformed into quantitative data for further analysis. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations among variables (parenting styles, children’s social skills, and children’s conflict resolution).