Parent-Child Relationship And Conflict Management Styles

This thesis studies Shanghai College students'relationship with their parents and their conflict solving styles from a social psychological perspective. Influenced by Confucianism, Chinese people highly value"obedience"and"filial piety"in its 5000-year's civilization. Modern China still preserves a considerable proportion of its traditional values. Some elements, however, have changed because of the development of society. In the metropolitan area of Shanghai, with the rapid development of the economy, influence from the west, and urbanization process, traditional Chinese family values have changed. Children are more independent and confident, while parents are more open and egalitarian.After a review of related literature, four research questions and two hypotheses have been tentatively raised. The first and second research questions relate to connotations and functions of parent-child relationships in Shanghai College students'families. The third and fourth research questions ask about correlations, with question three about the correlation between demographic variables and parent-child relationship orientations, and question four asks about the correlation between parent-child relationship variables and parent-child conflict management styles. The first hypothesis is that parents'power will positively correlate with children's obedience, and fondness for their parents'characters and capabilities will positively correlate with the recognized influence from their parent. The second hypothesis is that Shanghai college students would prioritize the six conflict management styles to address conflicts with their parents in the following order: With father"Problem solve, defend, express, give in, pretend, and involve a third party". With mother"Express, problem solve, involve a third party, give in, defend, and pretend".Data from self-report questionnaires shed light on answers and explanations to these questions and hypotheses. The first and second research questions are answered and analyzed comprehensively by descriptive statistics in combination with traditional Chinese values. For the third and fourth question, it is proven that only limited correlations exist. The first hypothesis is confirmed and the second one is partially confirmed. Positive correlations do exist between parents'power and children's obedience, and between parents'characters and capabilities. Preference order of the six conflict management styles proved the same for both conflicts with father and mother: Express feeling, problem solving, defend, give in, pretend, and involve a third party.