Outcomes of Dyadic Peer Conflicts

Abstract: Peer conflict research indicates that children’s other-oriented conflict strategies, which also consider the other’s perspective, lead to mutually beneficial (win-win) outcomes. These strategies increase with age because of enhanced socioemotional skills. However, less is known about unequal resolutions. This study examined whether age, social understanding, and conflict strategies predict such outcomes. Overall, we analyzed 792 conflict episodes from observations in preschools involving 54 target children (aged 44 to 73 months) and 198 peers (aged 11 to 73 months) via multilevel logistic regression models. Findings showed that win-win outcomes were more likely when both parties used other-oriented strategies, when target children used more strategies overall, and when the peers were older. For unequal resolutions ( n = 484), the target child’s win was associated with their use of self-oriented strategies and higher age as well as the peers’ other-oriented behavior and younger age. These results suggest that both children’s strategies and age shape conflict resolution.