Trifan Tatiana Alina, Meeus Wim, Branje Susan
The Department of Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Front Psychol. 2024 Mar 12;15:1233279. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1233279. eCollection 2024.
Close interpersonal conflicts between parents and children, marital or romantic partners, and between friends are common, and adjustment in youth and adults depends on how these conflicts are managed. While conflict management is important for relationships and adjustment, the structure of conflict management in adults or in youths has rarely been examined. Knowing how conflict management is structured, and whether this structure changes with age and relationships, is important to understanding what factors influence the development of conflict management skills, and how to intervene. In the current study, we explored the unidimensional vs. multidimensional structure of conflict management in family relationships, friendships and romantic relationships across adolescence and adulthood. The sample consisted of 497 Dutch adolescents (57% boys, = 13.03, SD = 0.46, 11-15 years old) who were followed over 11 years in 9 measurement waves, and their parents, siblings, best friends (six waves), and romantic partner (three waves). First-order factor analyses (CFA) showed that the structure of conflict management is similar for adolescents and adults, across relationships. The results of second-order models, including the theoretical higher dimensions positive/negative conflict management and engagement/disengagement, showed no support for these higher dimensions. The results of bifactor models showed differences between adults and youths: while positive problem solving was part of the general factor of conflict management in adults, it was not part of this general factor in adolescents. The general factor was linked to increases in internalizing and externalizing problems, and with decreases in prosocial behavior. Overall, the bifactor models increased the interpretability and validity of the conflict management measure.
父母与子女、配偶或恋爱伴侣以及朋友之间亲密的人际冲突很常见，青少年和成年人如何调整取决于这些冲突如何得到处理。虽然冲突管理对人际关系和调整很重要，但成人或青少年冲突管理的结构很少被研究。了解冲突管理是如何构建的，以及这种结构是否会随着年龄和人际关系而变化，对于理解哪些因素影响冲突管理技能的发展以及如何进行干预很重要。在当前的研究中，我们探讨了青少年和成年期家庭关系、友谊和恋爱关系中冲突管理的单维与多维结构。样本包括497名荷兰青少年（57%为男孩，平均年龄 = 13.03岁，标准差 = 0.46，年龄在11至15岁之间），他们在9次测量波次中被跟踪了11年，以及他们的父母、兄弟姐妹、最好的朋友（6次波次）和恋爱伴侣（3次波次）。一阶因素分析（CFA）表明，青少年和成年人在各种关系中冲突管理的结构相似。二阶模型的结果，包括理论上的更高维度积极/消极冲突管理和参与/脱离接触，没有支持这些更高维度。双因素模型的结果显示了成年人和青少年之间的差异：虽然积极解决问题是成年人冲突管理一般因素的一部分，但它不是青少年这一一般因素的一部分。一般因素与内化和外化问题的增加以及亲社会行为的减少有关。总体而言，双因素模型提高了冲突管理测量的可解释性和有效性。
