УДК 159

The relationship of personality anxiety with the strategy of behaviour in a conflict situation in adolescents

Куликова Анна Олеговна – студентка факультета Психологии Белгородского государственного национального исследовательского университета

Abstract: The article deals with the issue of the relationship between the level of anxiety and strategies of behaviour in conflict situations in adolescents. The research conducted by the author has shown that the higher the level of personal anxiety in this age group, the more pronounced are coping strategies. On the other hand, lower levels of situational anxiety are associated with increased expression of compromise strategies. These results suggest that anxiety plays an important role in the choice of different strategies in conflict situations in adolescents.

Keywords: personality anxiety, situational anxiety, strategies of behaviour in a conflict situation, conflict, adolescence.

Based on the definition of K. D. Spielberger and Y. L. Khanin, anxiety, as a property, a personality trait, predisposes to the emergence of an anxious reaction, to the perception of a wide range of objectively safe situations as threatening [8].

The level of anxiety, as A.M. Prikhozhan notes, is "an indicator of individual sensitivity to stress and the tendency to feel most life situations as threatening [7]. Very high anxiety is a subjective manifestation of psychological disadvantage. As a stable personality trait, it is an increased tendency to experience anxiety about real or imagined dangers" [2].

Our study considers anxiety as an emotional state and anxiety as "a personality trait that makes an individual strive to experience anxiety, characterised by a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxious reaction: one of the main parameters of individual differences. This is the approach we will follow in our work" [1,4].

There are five basic types of conflict behaviour: accommodation, compromise, cooperation, avoidance, rivalry or competition [3]. But none of the presented conflict resolution styles can be singled out as the best, they are all used without exception. We must learn to use each of them effectively and consciously make this or that choice, taking into account the specific circumstances. Styles of behaviour in a conflict situation are related to the main source of conflict - the difference of interests and value orientations of interacting subjects [6].

In this study, we assumed that the level of personality anxiety is related to the type of behaviour in conflict situations in adolescents, namely: the higher the level of personality anxiety, the more adolescents choose the strategy of accommodation, and the lower the level of situational anxiety in adolescents, the more the strategy of "compromise" prevails.

The study was conducted on the basis of the secondary school №2 in Valuiki town, Belgorod region, the study involved pupils of 9 grades in the number of 30 people.

The Spielberger-Hanin method "Determination of anxiety level" was chosen to determine the level of anxiety. The questionnaire is constructed in such a way that it allows to identify both the level of personal and situational anxiety [5]. To determine the strategies of behaviour in a conflict situation among adolescents, we used the C. Thomas test "Tactics of Behaviour in Conflict" [5].

Let us proceed to discuss the findings of the empirical study.

As we can see in Figure 1, a high level of personal anxiety, which manifests itself in an increased tendency to anxiety and a tendency to perceive a fairly wide range of situations as threatening, was revealed in 63 per cent of adolescents. Thirty-three per cent of the subjects had a medium level of anxiety, which may indicate that such subjects are calm, have a sense of responsibility and good attention. 3% of respondents have a low level of anxiety, which states a reduced sense of responsibility and the need to pay attention to the motives of activities performed by a person.

Fig. 1. Distribution of adolescents by levels of personal and situational anxiety, %.

High level of situational anxiety was revealed in 47% of adolescents who took part in the study, manifested in their anxiety, fears, as a consequence of which may appear intemperance, temper. The average level of situational anxiety was revealed in 50% of adolescents, which indicates a certain state of tension and readiness to react to a stressful situation. Low level of situational anxiety was revealed in 3% of adolescents, which indicates their calm state in the situation of the survey.

Based on Figure 2, the majority of the sample - 43.2% - has the conflict behaviour strategy "Compromise", which may indicate that such subjects seek to conclude an agreement on the basis of mutual concessions; or to find an option that eliminates the contradiction. 23.3% of the sample has a conflict behaviour strategy of "accommodation", which may indicate that such subjects act together with the other party, but do not try to defend their own interests in order to smooth the atmosphere and restore a normal working atmosphere.

Fig. 2. Distribution of adolescents by leading conflict behaviour strategies, %.

Figure 2 also demonstrates that 16.7% of the sample of test subjects has a strategy of conflict behaviour "cooperation", which may indicate that such subjects come to an alternative that fully satisfies the interests of both parties. 10% of the sample of subjects has a conflict behaviour strategy of "avoidance". Such subjects, when the problem at hand is not so important, do not assert their rights, do not co-operate with anyone to work out a solution, and do not want to spend time and energy on solving it. 6.7 % of the sample of test subjects has a strategy of behaviour in conflict "rivalry", which may indicate to us that such test subjects seek to achieve satisfaction of their interests to the detriment of the other.

In order to identify significant relationships between anxiety and conflict behaviour styles, we applied correlation analysis using a non-parametric mathematical method - Spearman's correlation coefficient. Based on the data obtained, we found two correlations.

Personality anxiety has a positive close correlation with the tactic of "accommodation (r = 0, 651 at p ≤ 0.01), that is, the higher the level of personal anxiety of the teenager, the more often the teenager will be inclined to use such a strategy of conflict behaviour as accommodation. The adolescent so strongly assesses the conflict situation as threatening that he or she is ready to sacrifice his or her own interests just to stop the conflict. Situational anxiety has a negative close correlation with compromise tactics (r = -0.646 at p ≤ 0.01). That is, the higher the level of situational anxiety in adolescents, the less often the adolescent during interaction with other people will show a tendency to such a strategy of conflict behaviour as "compromise". And adolescents with low situational anxiety will be able to adequately assess the conflict situation and find a solution that suits both sides of the conflict.

Thus, our hypothesis that there is a relationship between the level of personality anxiety and strategies of behaviour in conflict is confirmed at a high level of statistical significance p ≤ 0.01, namely: adolescents with a high level of anxiety tend to use "adaptation" as a predominant strategy in conflict situations, and adolescents with a low level of anxiety more often use the strategy of "compromise". The compromise style is characteristic of adequate individuals who are interested in each other's opinions and for them the outcome of the conflict in favour of both sides is important. The style of accommodation is carried out, as a rule, by giving in, agreeing or sacrificing one's interests in favour of another person, trying to mitigate the conflict situation and restore harmony, however, using this approach, a person puts his/her interests aside.

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