IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v12y2022i6p160-d972422.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intergenerational Conflict-Initiating Factors and Management Styles: U.S. Older Adults’ Report

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Bing Zhang

    (Department of Communication Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7574, USA)

  • Weston T. Wiebe

    (College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO 65726, USA)

Abstract

Guided by the theoretical frameworks of communication accommodation theory and conflict management, this study examines U.S. older participants’ (65 or older) written conflict scenario either with a grandchild or a nonfamily young adult. Using content analysis approach, we analyzed these written conflict scenarios to uncover major conflict initiating factors and conflict management styles. Results revealed that intergenerational conflict initiated by old-to-young criticism (more frequently reported in conflicts with nonfamily young adults) or disagreement/generation gap (more frequently reported in conflicts with grandchildren) was reported most frequently followed by young-to-old rebuff, cumulative annoyance, and young-to-old criticism . Additionally, results indicated that older adults used the problem-solving style most frequently when disagreement/generation gap initiated the conflict, especially in the family contexts; both young and older adults used the competing style most frequently when old-to-young criticism initiated the conflict, especially in nonfamily contexts. Furthermore, the use of the competing and problem-solving styles by young adults was significantly associated with the use of the same styles by older adults and vice versa, indicating both positive and negative reciprocation in intergenerational conflict. Results in general show that young and older adults manage intergenerational conflicts in different ways in family versus nonfamily contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Bing Zhang & Weston T. Wiebe, 2022. "Intergenerational Conflict-Initiating Factors and Management Styles: U.S. Older Adults’ Report," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:6:p:160-:d:972422
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/160/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/160/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fredda Blanchard-Fields & Andrew Mienaltowski & Renee Baldi Seay, 2007. "Age Differences in Everyday Problem-Solving Effectiveness: Older Adults Select More Effective Strategies for Interpersonal Problems," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(1), pages 61-64.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jogé Boumans & Aukelien Scheffelaar & Vera P. van Druten & Tessel H. G. Hendriksen & Lenny M. W. Nahar-van Venrooij & Andrea D. Rozema, 2021. "Coping Strategies Used by Older Adults to Deal with Contact Isolation in the Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Jonathan J. Rolison & Yaniv Hanoch & Stacey Wood & Pi-Ju Liu, 2014. "Risk-Taking Differences Across the Adult Life Span: A Question of Age and Domain," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(6), pages 870-880.
    3. Anna Darbonne & Bert Uchino & Anthony Ong, 2013. "What Mediates Links Between Age and Well-being? A Test of Social Support and Interpersonal Conflict as Potential Interpersonal Pathways," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 951-963, June.
    4. Kunzmann, Ute & Richter, David & Schmukle, Stefan C., 2013. "Stability and Change in Affective Experience Across the Adult Life Span: Analyses With a National Sample From Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(6), pages 1086-1095.
    5. Nathalie Hauk & Anja S Göritz & Stefan Krumm, 2019. "The mediating role of coping behavior on the age-technostress relationship: A longitudinal multilevel mediation model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:6:p:160-:d:972422. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.