Relationship characteristics and conflict resolution in students’ intimate relationships

U suvremenom društvu intimnim vezama pridaje se velik značaj, no istovremeno je među partnerima prisutno vrlo oskudno poznavanje pozitivnog rješavanja sukoba u vezi. Stoga se ovaj rad fokusirao na ispitivanje spolnih razlika u načinima rješavanja sukoba u intimnim vezama studenata te ispitivanje povezanosti između načina rješavanja sukoba u intimnim vezama i obilježja tih veza. U istraživanju je sudjelovao 281 student s područja Hrvatske te je ono provedeno uz pomoć online ankete. Anketa se sastojala od 117 čestica razvrstanih u četiri cjeline - Upitnik samopoimanja, pitanja o intimnim vezama, o načinima rješavanja sukoba te pitanja o sociodemografskim obilježjima. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju kako žene češće koriste konfliktno ponašanje i povlačenje kao načine rješavanja sukoba. Također, što je trajanje intimne veze duže, to je učestalost pozitivnog rješavanja sukoba manja, dok je učestalost nasilnog rješavanja sukoba veća. Kod korelacije zadovoljstva vezom i načina rješavanja sukoba, rezultati pokazuju da što je zadovoljstvo vezom veće, to je korištenje pozitivnog načina rješavanja sukoba veće, a korištenje konfliktnog ponašanja, povlačenja, popuštanja te nasilnog načina rješavanja sukoba manje.In modern society intimate relationships are given great importance, but there also exists insufficient knowledge of positive conflict resolution among intimate partners. The focus of this study is on examining the gender differences in the ways of resolving intimate relationships conflicts and examining the correlation between the ways of resolving intimate relationships conflicts and relationship characteristics. Participants were 281 students from Croatia and the research was performed using an online survey. The survey consisted of 117 items, grouped in four parts - Self Description Questionnaire, questions about intimate relationship, conflict resolution styles and questions about sociodemographic characteristics. Research results show that women use conflict engagement and withdrawal as a way of resolving conflicts more often. Also, if the duration of the intimate relationship is longer, the frequency of positive problem solving is lower, while the frequency of violent problem solving is higher. Regarding the correlation of relationship satisfaction and ways of resolving conflicts, the results show that higher relationship satisfaction is related to higher frequency of positive problem solving, and lower frequency of conflict engagement, withdrawal, compliance and violent problem solving