Conflict resolution in Mexican American adolescents' friendships: Links with culture, gender and friendship quality

Shawna M. Thayer, Kimberly Updegraff, Melissa Y. Delgado

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study was designed to describe the conflict resolution practices used in Mexican American adolescents' friendships, to explore the role of cultural orientations and values and gender-typed personality qualities in conflict resolution use, and to assess the connections between conflict resolution and friendship quality. Participants were 246 Mexican American adolescents (M = 12.77 years of age) and their older siblings (M = 15.70 years of age). Results indicated that adolescents used solution-oriented strategies most frequently, followed by nonconfrontation and control strategies. Girls were more likely than boys to use solution-oriented strategies and less likely to use control strategies. Familistic values and gender-typed personality qualities were associated with solution-oriented conflict resolution strategies. Finally, conflict resolution strategies were related to overall friendship quality: solution-oriented strategies were positively linked to intimacy and negatively associated with friendship negativity, whereas nonconfrontation and control strategies were associated with greater relationship negativity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)783-797
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of youth and adolescence
Volume37
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2008

Keywords

  • Conflict resolution
  • Friendships
  • Gender
  • Mexican American youth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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