1999 Volume 47 Issue 2 Pages 218-228
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the negotiation process in adolescents through hypothetical interpersonal conflict situations. A structured interview based on Selman's theory measured the respondents' interpersonal negotiation strategies in 3 different interpersonal contexts: situations with the adolescent's father, with the mother, and with a friend. Participants, 55 junior high school students and 56 university students, were classified into 4 or 5 patterns of negotiation process in each context in terms of the level of their scores on the 2 strategies-“best strategy” and “strategy after an obstacle”. The main results were as follows: 1)A significant difference was found for age only in the situations with friends. More of the university students than the junior high school students tried to maintain relationships with friends. 2)Participants who tried to maintain reciprocity considered the long-term relationship with their significant others, as compared with participants who always used unilateral strategies. 3)Analysis of individual patterns showed that adolescents' beliefs about the other person's response influenced each pattern.
