Danuta Borecka-Biernat Task-oriented coping strategy in youth in situations of social conflict: an attempt to determine the personality predictors

Abstrakt

The goal of the study was to identify the personality predictors of the task-oriented coping strategy in adolescent youth in situations of social conflict. The study was conducted on a sample of 468 girls and 425 boys aged 13 to 15. The tools applied to conduct the study included the Self-Esteem Scale (SES), developed by M. Rosenberg and adapted by M. Łaguna, K. Lachowicz-Tabaczek, and I. Dzwonkowska, the Stress-Assessment Questionnaire (Kwestionariusz Oceny Stresu, KOS) designed by D. Włodarczyk and K. Wrześniewski, the Three-Factor Inventory of Personality States and Traits (Trójczynnikowy Inwentarz Stanów i Cech Osobowości, TISCO), designed by C. Spielberg, as well as the Questionnaire for Studying the Coping Strategies in Youth in Situations of Social Conflict (Kwestionariusz do badania strategii radzenia sobie młodzieży w sytuacji konfliktu społecznego, KSMK), created by D. Borecka-Biernat. The conducted analysis of the research material suggests that young people who are confident in their ability to control the negative and the positive outcomes of events choose, in situations of social conflict, the task-oriented coping strategy. The subjective conviction that one has control over the occuring events or phenomena is crucial to one's sense of security. Young people who apply the task-oriented strategy in situations of social conflict display lower levels of fear and anxiety and a higher level of curiosity. A lower level of emotional tension and anxiety in situations of social conflict, as well as the ability to react to it with curiosity, encourages adolescents to actively seek and apply the task-oriented solutions. The results of this study constitute theoretical guidelines applicable in designing prevention programs and therapies that support the development of those traits that might be significant for the task-oriented strategy, that attends to the needs of all participants of the relationship or the conflict.