Self-Discipline is the ability is a person to control and motivate oneself to always do the right thing and maintain this habit. Discipline allows us to fix a bad behavior through doing a routine to create better behavior. Conflict resolution is a strategic way for two or more people to come to an agreement on a peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. Conflict resolution allows people to settle their difference and come to a peaceful consensus. Self-discipline and conflict resolution are skills that are very important in a person’s life. In this paper, we review two articles on self-discipline and conflict resolution in children.
Article Summary
Article 1
The first article is ‘ Evaluating the Impact of Conflict Resolution on Urban Children’s Violence-Relate Attitudes and Behaviors in New Haven, Connecticut, Through a Community-Academic Partnership’ by Shuval, et al., 2010. The purpose of this research was to determine the impact of a conflict resolution curriculum that was ongoing in New Haven elementary schools for the children. This research was motivated by how so many schools were implementing violence prevention intervention in many schools to enhance conflict resolution skills but they did not evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions.
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The researchers formed a community-academic partnership between Community Mediation Inc., New Haven public schools, the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. From a population of three elementary schools, the study used 191 students who participated in the community-academic conflict resolution workshops between the academic year 2007-2008. 165 students out of the 191 completed the pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires giving an 83.7% response rate (Shuval, et al., 2010).
The intervention focused on teaching how to resolve disputes using non-violent choices and how to impede any verbal or physical before it starts. The intervention had five workshops with 45-50 minutes duration per session. The same protocol in mediation and implementation was applied in all schools to enhance uniformity in the curriculum. The variable in each workshop was:
conflict management styles
understanding conflict styles and analyzing conflict events and the consequences
discussing feeling relating to conflicts
implementing listening skills and learning the importance of the skills during the conflict
teaching clear communication strategies and taking ownership of one’s feelings
These variables helped assess the study variables of Hopelessness scale for children, conflict self-efficacy, SCL-90 hostility, and Likelihood of violence and delinquency scale. The study applied questionnaires in their data collection methodology. These questionnaires had diverse questions each with a scale ranging from 1 to 3. The scores provided data to determine the impact of conflict resolution using the partnership. The responses for each question were totaled and divided by a number of items.
Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics to determine normality of distribution in the data. The study also utilized bivariate analysis to compare individual and socio-ecological characteristics between the three schools. Paired t-tests assessed the mean changes in each of the four variables while Cohen’s d effect size was calculated to determine changes in the outcome. The results of the study indicate a positive impact of the evaluation on one of the four variables in the first school while in the second school; the intervention had a negative impact on self-efficacy score. The intervention had no positive or negative impact on the other three variables in the second school. In the third school, the intervention had a little positive impact on violence-related habits and attitudes. The overall impact of the intervention was a significant reducing impact on hostility scores in school 1, hopelessness in school 3 and decreased self-efficacy in school 2. The intervention has little or no impact on most of the variables of the study.
Article 2
The second article is ‘ Helping students resolve their conflicts through conflict resolution and peer mediation training’ by Turnuklu, Kaemaz, Turk, Kalender, Sevkin, & Zengin, 2009. The purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation (CRPM) training in resolving interpersonal conflicts between 10-11-year-old primary students. The motivation of the study was the inevitability and natural feature of interpersonal conflicts in schools due to the different values, backgrounds, personalities, and morals in people.
The study was conducted in two low-SES primary schools with 520 students from 12 classes undergoing the training. The training was a 31-hour-class with 444 mediation sessions with training variables on:
understanding the nature of interpersonal conflicts
communication skills
anger management skills
interpersonal conflict resolution skills
This program ran in 2006-2007 academic years for two hours a week. Training was conducted in school, during school hours where students had to go through individual learning, whole-class training, and teamwork activities.
At the end of the mediation period, students had to complete a questionnaire (mediation form) – this was the data collection method. The variables tested were the impact of the mediation based on gender, type and nature of the conflict, and the agreement from the peer mediation. Using content analysis, the researchers analyzed the mediation forms data and used quantitative analysis. Chi-square method was used to compare the data frequencies for all the dependent variables. The results indicate that gender of the disputants has no significant impact on the effectiveness of the training. However, most students preferred female mediators to male mediators in their training (Turnuklu, Kaemaz, Turk, Kalender, Sevkin, & Zengin, 2009).
The study also shows that the prevalent type of conflict is physical aggression where fights or rough play was prevalent in the physical aggression. Verbal aggression is not too common as it accounted for 19% of all conflicts; however, the most prevalent type in this category is the use of demeaning words and making fun. Non-verbal aggression is uncommon in the primary schools. Aggression was found to be the major conflict type in the 4th and 5th grades. The most popular agreement was ‘stopping offensive behavior’ by 62%, negotiating an agreement was 28% while apologizing was 8%. The study shows that peer-mediation is an effective approach to conflict resolution for 4th and 5th graders. Conflict resolution by negotiating is common among females than male-male or male-female conflicts while stopping the offensive behavior is most common in males than in female-female of male-female conflicts. Therefore, gender is a significant factor in the type of agreement made when resolving a conflict.
Compare and Contrast
Both studies research on conflict resolution training through mediation in schools. The aim of both studies is to determine the effectiveness of mediation in training conflict resolution. The problem statements for both studies are also similar. Both research works are motivated by the prevalence of conflict in the society that is inevitable. The studies refine their population to a school setting and introduce a training program that will help in mediation. Though the population is different, both studies try to explain and assess different variables that may affect the effectiveness of the training. In both programs, students are trained on conflict, its management and communication and listening strategies.
The variables, population, and results of the study however differ. In the first study, the authors are more concerned with Hopelessness scale for children, conflict self-efficacy, SCL-90 hostility, and Likelihood of violence and delinquency scale. In the second study, the researchers are concerned with gender, type, and nature of the conflict, and the agreement from the peer mediation. The difference in these variables is the factual feature wherein the first study, the tests are based on literature while in the second one, researchers are more concerned with personal constraints or factors that may affect the effectiveness of the training program.
In the first study, the classes of the students are not explaining variables but in the second, the researchers use fifth and fourth graders who are between the age of 10 and 11. However, in both studies, the participants are children. The population in the first study is smaller than that in the second. The results of the study differ due to the difference in variables. The second study is more conclusive than the first. According to the second article, the training is effective in conflict resolution but in the first, there is no particular mention of this fact.
Conflict resolution is a critical aspect of life, organizations, families, and school. Our different perspectives on life and other aspects, our values and background can lead to conflict. Schools should take into account gender when introducing conflict resolution programs. Mediation is an important method in the process, especially among children.
References
Bell, K., Coleman, K., Anderson, A., & Whelan, P. (2000). The Effectiveness of Peer Mediation in a Low-SES Rural Elementary School. Psychology in the Schools, 37 (6), 505-516.
Quin, G. P., Bell-Ellison, B. A., & Loomis, W. (2007). Adolescent Perceptions of Violence: Formative Research Findings from a Social Marketing Campaign to reduce Violence among Middle School Youth. Public Health, 121 , 357-366.
Shuval, k., Pillsbury, C., Cavanaugh, B., McGruder, L., McKinney, C., Massey, Z., et al. (2010). Evaluating the Impact of Conflict Resolution on Urban Children's Violence-related Attitudes and Behavior in New Haven, Connecticut, through a Community-Academic Leadership. Health Education Research, 25 (5), 757-768.
Turnuklu, A., Kaemaz, T., Turk, F., Kalender, A., Sevkin, B., & Zengin, F. (2009). Helping Students Resolve their Conflicts through Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Training. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1 , 639-647.
