Conflicts and their management in early childhood and adolescence

Abstract

Kui teil palutakse meenutada viimati kogetud konfliktset olukorda, ei pea te ilmselt oma mõtetes väga kaugesse minevikku rändama. Pikemalt peaksite ehk aga mõtisklema selle üle, millest lähtuvalt te konflikti lahendasite või miks teie naabrimees sarnase konflikti hoopis teisiti lahendas. Doktoritöös keskendusin lasteaialaste ja teismeliste konfliktsetele suhetele vanemate ja eakaaslastega ning uurisin kuivõrd on nende konfliktide lahendamise viisid seletatavad individuaalsete ja situatioonist tulenevate erinevustega. Tulemused viitavad mitmete indiviidi ja situatsiooniga seonduvate tegurite koosmõjule. Nii lasteaialapsed kui teismelised juhindusid konflikti lahendades selle tüübist. Enesekehtestamine oli sagedasem tõsisemate ja provokatiivsete situatsioonide puhul, näiteks narrimine eelkoolieas ja tagarääkimine teismeeas. Eelkooliealiste laste puhul uurisime ka konflikti osapoolte mõju üksteisele ning leidsime, et agressiivsele käitumisele kalduti vastama agressiivselt ja prosotsiaalsele käitumisele prosotsiaalselt. Lasteaialaste vanus, käitumisprobleemide olemasolu ning konflikti teise osapoole sugu ei olnud seotud nende konfliktide lahendamise viisidega. Ka soolised erinevused laste ja teismeliste strateegiates olid väikesed ning tingitud konkreetse situatsiooni eripärast. Kultuurilised erinevused teismeliste strateegiates olid seletatavad erinevustega nende väärtushinnangutes. Võrreldes eesti ja saksa teismelistega olid vene teismeliste jaoks peresuhted olulisemad, mistõttu olid nad rohkem valmis tegema, mida vanemad palusid. Erinevused eesti, saksa ja vene ning eesti ja eestivene teismeliste vahel tulid esile ka nende põhjendustes väljapakutud konfliktide lahendamise strateegiatele. Vene teismelised Eestis ja Venemaal olid rohkem valmis enda huve tahaplaanile jätma ning konfliktolukordi vanemate või sõprade heaolust lähtudes lahendama. Eesti ja saksa teismelised arvestasid sagedamini samaaegselt nii enda kui konflikti teise osapoole huvidega.

When asked to recall the most recent conflict situation, you probably do not need to travel far back in time in your mind. You might, however, need to think longer about what guided you in conflict resolution or why the guy next door resolved a similar conflict so much differently. In my doctoral thesis, I focused on preschoolers’ and adolescents’ conflicts with parents and peers, and examined the relative importance of individual and situational factors for their conflict management strategies. Our findings point out the complex interplay of various individual and situational factors. Both preschoolers and adolescents were guided by the type of conflict. Self-assertion was more common in case of serious and provocative conflict situations, such as name-calling among children and backbiting among adolescents. Among preschoolers, we also examined how the two conflict parties influenced each other. We found that they responded aggressively to another child’s aggression, and prosocially to prosocial behavior. Age, the level of behavior problems, and the conflict partner’s gender were not related to preschoolers’ conflict management strategies. Gender differences in children’s and adolescents’ strategies were modest, and likely to be highly context-specific. Differences in value priorities lied behind cultural differences in adolescents’ conflict management strategies. Compared with Estonian and German adolescents, Russian teens considered family relationships more important, and were thus more willing to do what their parents asked. Differences among Estonian, German, and Russian, and among Estonian and Russian-Estonian adolescents also emerged in their reasons given for their conflict management strategies. Russian adolescents in Estonia and Russia were more willing to subordinate their own interests to those of their conflict partner. Estonian and German adolescents took more frequently into account both their own and their conflict partner’s interests.