Examining interpersonal conflicts among middle school students in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine interpersonal conflicts among middle school students. Participants were 461 students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades (12-14 year olds) of middle schools. Of the participating students, 241 were female, and 220 were male. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. Since the questionnaire items were all open ended, the whole data were text based. Content analysis, therefore, was used in order to analyse the data. Results showed that students’ associations of conflict, types of conflicts which were seen in the school context, and origins of these conflicts generally included violence-oriented destructive features concerning either physical, or verbal and psychological. Similarly, students’ conflict resolution strategies and tactics had a tendency to be either destructive or adult oriented instead of being co-operative.