The Impact of Conflict Resolution Training on Elementary School Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of conflict resolution
training on elementary school children. It was hypothesized that a conflict resolution
program would increase the use of constructive conflict resolution strategies of students.
217 4
th
grade students were taken randomly and asked the most common conflicts they had
experienced. The most frequent responses were written as two scenarios. These were given
as a pre-test to the students and asked to resolve these conflicts. The responses were rated
by three psychologists in terms of conflict strategies theory and their reliability was tested
by Kendall’s Coefficient of concordance. The students who have the lowest scores were
chosen as the subjects. Experimental group (7 girls, 7 boys) received 10 hours of training
during a 30-minute- period twice a week. Control group (7 girls, 7 boys) received no
training. Training was realized as an unstructured, non-linear group study. Then the same
scenarios were given as a post-test. The correlation between pre and post-tests were tested
by Wilcoxon matched pair test and no significant differences were found. The results were
interpreted by the technique and duration of the application. More concentrated and longer
training periods was suggested for future research. It is very important to teach the students
to cope with conflicts with constructive strategies, because low academic achievement, low
self- esteem, stress and the worst, violence are the results of destructive conflict resolution