Early Adolescents’ Social Goals in Peer Conflict Situations: A Mixed Methods Study

• Published in: The Journal of early adolescence Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 647 - 670
• Main Authors: Dunn, Courtney B, Pittman, Sarah K, Mehari, Krista R, Titchner, Denicia, Farrell, Albert D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-05-2022; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Aggression; Antisocial Behavior; Conflict; Early Adolescents; Friendship; Gender Differences; Goal Orientation; Grade 7; Grounded Theory; Information Seeking; Middle School Students; Mixed methods research; Moral Values; Peer Relationship; Reputation; Rural Schools; Social Cognition; Social Status; Student Attitudes; Teenagers; Urban Schools; early adolescence; social conflict; social cognition; qualitative analysis; goals
• ISSN: 0272-4316; 1552-5449
• DOI: 10.1177/02724316211064516

Identification of goals is a key social-cognitive process that guides whether adolescents engage in aggressive or nonviolent behavior during social conflicts. This study investigated early adolescents’ goals in response to hypothetical social conflict situations involving close friends and peers. Participants (n = 160; Mage = 12.7, 53% female) were 7th graders from two urban and one rural middle school. On average, participants identified 2.5 goals for each situation. Qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach identified nine themes representing the goals generated by participants: instrumental-control, relationship maintenance, maintain image and reputation/self-defense, conflict avoidance, seek more information, revenge, tension reduction, moral, and stay out of trouble. Quantitative analysis indicated that female participants identified more goals than male participants, but there were few differences in their types of goals. There were few differences across school sites. The findings highlight the variety of social goals specific to the developmental period of early adolescence.