Goals and strategies in peer conflict situations: An investigation of the linkages in three relational contexts

It is widely accepted that human behavior is goal-directed. Several researchers have also argued that goals underlie children's social behavior with peers. Nonetheless, children's goals in social situations have not been given sufficient attention in existing research. In the present research, two studies were conducted to investigate the linkages between children's goals and strategies in peer conflict situations. In Study 1, a total of 265 fourth- and fifth-grade children were presented with hypothetical peer conflict situations and were asked to indicate which goals they would be likely to pursue and which strategies they would be likely to enact. Goals and strategies were assessed in counterbalanced order at two separate sessions. Results indicated that (a) children's goals and strategies in hypothetical conflict situations were reliably assessed, (b) children's strategies were associated with their behavioral characteristics as perceived by peers, (c) boys and girls differed in a number of goals and strategies, and (d) children's goals were closely and meaningfully related to their strategies for responding to hypothetical conflicts.Study 2 was designed to investigate whether children's goals and strategies in peer conflict situations vary according to their relationship with the peer and whether the goal-strategy linkages are similar in different relational contexts. A total of 343 fourth- and fifth-grade children were presented with hypothetical peer conflict situations. In this study, however, the measure was individually customized for each child by inserting the names of the child's same-sex classmates into conflict vignettes. By using sociometric measures, it was possible to examine how children responded to conflict when the protagonist in a vignette was a best friend, a liked peer, a disliked peer, or a neutral associate. Results indicated that (a) children's goals and strategies differed significantly depending on their relationship with the protagonist in the conflict, and (b) the linkages between goals and strategies were similar regardless of children's relationship with the peer.The findings from both studies suggest that how children resolve conflicts with peers is associated with what children desire to attain or accomplish in conflict situations. These findings have substantial implications for future research and for social skills intervention.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio