Abstract
EMOTIONAL REGULATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
M. VIJAY * S. KADHIRAVAN **
Research scholarResearch supervisor
This study examines about university students’ emotional regulation and conflict management style on the basis of demographic variables such as, stream of study, year of study and type of family. The researcher has employed the descriptive survey method for this study and the sample was carried from university students in Salem. The sample size is N= 93, and‘ t’ test, Pearson’s r and ANOVA were used and the data was analyzed through SPSS. V. 22. This study reveals that students from arts and science background haven’t differed in their emotional regulation, first and final year students have partially differed in their emotional regulation than their conflict management style and finally students from nuclear family background have partially differed in their emotional regulation than the counterpart. The study concludes that, emotional regulation partially correlated with conflict management style at 0. 05 levels.
Key words: Emotional regulation, Conflict management style.
INTRODUCTION
Students are come across from many events in their life. Perhaps, events are generates some emotional reactions; those reactions invite either positive or negative consequences. Emotions are complex reaction that would not raise isolate, it is involved with internal subjective feelings and as well as influence of socio-cultural factors. When separating the problem students have different opinions, creative thoughts, skills, and values to directing the goals. In these context, when the person wants engaging an activity that is incongruent with his/her interest or needs lead to disagreement. An even disagreement produces some emotional reaction. In these contexts emotional regulation help to cope students’ emotional reaction, which means, it deal with any coping strategy used by the individual when deal with an unnecessary thoughts, feelings and emotions. In order to use managing conflict style also helps to coping their incongruent conflict issues in good manner.
EMOTIONAL REGULATION
In the stage of adolescence to adulthood is a major obstacle to move up for everyone because, in these stage people are inviting many commitments for showing their values in the social system. Through inviting more commitments people are experiencing emotional events. In these context, emotional regulation help to cope their emotion in wider perspective. Emotional regulation refers to extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for observing, assessing and modifying emotional reactions, in particular their exhaustive and temporal features toachieve one’s own goals Thompson (1994). Emotional regulation is a coping mechanism, it is concerned with emotions context whatever people areraised. There are two specific strategies often involving to regulate people emotions effectively, such as, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Cognitive reappraisal strategies deal with cognitive changes such as thinking, feeling, creating new ideas to interpreting emotional stimulus which means it involves recognition of the individual’s negative emotional response and reinterpretation of the situation by exchanging the negative thoughts to increasing positive thoughts. Expressive suppression also involves emotional regulation, it means, person’s knowledge about the causes of emotion that inhibiting ongoing emotional expressive behavior.
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE
When students are require to perform some activity that is incongruent with their interest leads disagreement. According to Rahim (1992) Conflict is an interactive process that manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or social entities. Conflict management refers to minimizing the negative outcomes of conflict and promotes the positive outcomes of conflict with the goal of improving learning in an organization. (Rahim, 2002). Conflict management helps to recognize, cope and to direct the conflict from negative aspect to positive manner. Rahim (1979) who psychologist, conceptualized five different conflict management styles to cope students’ conflict situation in an effective mode, there are, (I) integrating style, which involves high concern for self and others., (II) obliging style, it involves person who concerning low level for their own self and concerning high level for others, (III) dominating style, it involving high level of concern for their own self and as well low level of concern for others, (IV) avoiding style involves low level of concern for their own and also others and (V) compromising style involves equal concern for own and others.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review of literature in the research study helps researcher to gain some knowledge and insight in to the purpose and the result of the study. Studies on emotional regulation and conflict management style are given below.
Ahmet yigit and ahmwtozpolat (2014) conducted research on emotional regulation strategies as a predictor of life satisfaction of university students based on parent profession, income level and educational background. They found cognitive reappraisal strategy directly predict life satisfaction of parent profession, income level and educational background.
Gulcimenyurtsever (2014) investigated negotiator profit predicated by cognitive reappraisal, suppression of emotions, and misrepresentation of information and tolerance of ambiguity among undergraduate students. The result reveled that negative coefficients were obtained from scored between emotional reaction and cognitive reappraisal and tolerance of ambiguity.
PiiaNaykki and SannaJarvela (2014) examined socio-emotional conflict in collaborative learning of higher education context. Collaborative work of higher education students was followed during a three month course. The result indicate that has students are more experienced in socio-emotional challenges and adopt avoidance-focused emotion regulation behavior and to lower their on – task engagement.
Jianzhongxu (2013) conducted research on individual and group level factors for students’ emotion management in online collaborative group work in united state. The researcher found that, emotion management in group work was positively related to feed back, learning – oriented reasons, arranging the environment. In addition compared with part-time students, fulltime students were more initiative in managing their emotions with doing online group work.
Nicole M. Monteiro and Shyngle K (2014) examined the emotion regulation of coping strategies among university students in Botswana. The result indicate that students’ emotional suppression was positively correlated with problem solving, cognitive restructuring, expressing emotion, social support, problem avoidance and wishful thinking coping strategies.
Ishfaq Ahmed and Muhammad (2010) studied about personality does affect conflict handling style among college students. The researchers’ found that personality affects avoiding and competing style of conflict management style.
Hidetomorita (2003) investigated conflict management style of American and Japanese with close friendships among college students. He found that dominating and obliging style of conflict management often by American students than Japanese.
Hossein Khanaki (2010) examined conflict management style among engineering students and experience engineers from Iran. The result reveled that experience engineers often prefer to avoid conflict management style and similarly both of them generally showed a lack of inters in competing style.
Joanne C. Y. Chan (2014) examined conflict management styles, emotional intelligence and implicit theory of personality of nursing students. The researcher found that students often used obliging and integrating style than dominating style conflict management style for clinical supervisions.
Eunjookim and ayano Yamaguchi (2014) investigated the effects of taking conflict personality on conflict management style across culture among undergraduate students. The researchers’ found that taking conflict personality indicated positive relation with participant’s conflict management style.
Sehrish Hassan and Muhammad (2015) examined the relationship between conflict management, social support among university students in Pakistan. The result found that social support was not significantly correlated with conflict management styles and female students’ social support shown higher than males’.
Tong Yu and guo-mingchen (2008) investigated intercultural sensitivity and conflict management styles in cross-cultural organizational situations among university students. The result revealed that moderate relationship between the two concepts and among respective dimensions.
On above related literature provides detail knowledge about present status of emotional regulation and conflict management style. The researcher examines the relationship between emotional regulation and conflict management style among university students with the help of previous related literature knowledge.
NEED FOR THE STUDY
Emotions are develops throughout the life span. It does not arise in isolation; it is a combination of cognitive, behavioral and socio-cultural influences. Every student were experienced by emotional and conflict events, but they know how, where and which type of decision would aid to solve the problem. In these situations, emotional regulation and conflict management style would help to handle students’ problems in good manner. This study would help to examine the relationship between emotional regulation and conflict management style of university students’.
HYPOTHESES
- Emotional regulation will be correlate with conflict management style of university students.
- Students from arts and science will be significantly differs in their emotional regulation.
- Students from first and final year will be significantly differs in their emotional regulation and as well as conflict management style.
- Students from nuclear and joint family will be significantly differs in their emotional regulation.
RESEARCH METHOD
The researcher has used descriptive survey method for this study. This study analyzes the relationship between emotional regulation and conflict management style of university students. The researcher has exploit incidental sampling method for select the participant in university. Students from first and final year were selected as a sample for this study. The data were collected from 160 students and finally only N= 93 were selected for this study and also remaining data was eliminated on the consideration of spurious data. Emotional regulation questionnaire (ERQ) by Gross and john (2003) and conflict management style by Johnson (1990) were used for this study. The selected data were scored as per the scoring norms and also analyzed with the help of SPSS V-22. The data was in additionally promote to classified on the basis of stream of study [arts= 40; science = 53], year of study [first= 59; final = 34] and the type of family [nuclear = 66; joint 27].
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Table-1shows the difference between arts and science students in their emotional regulation.
Table-1
From the table-1 it is found that the ‘ t’ values are not significant for any one of the facet of emotional regulation. Hence the hypothesis is not accepted. It is concluded that students from arts and science stream did not differ in their emotional regulation.
Table-2shows the difference between first and final year students in their emotional regulation.
Table-2
From the table-2 it is observed that the t-values are significant for cognitive reappraisal facet of emotional regulation than expressive suppression facet. It is indicate that first year students are often using their cognitive reappraisal strategies in their emotional regulation than final year students. First and final year students are significantly differ in their emotional regulation. Hence the hypothesis is accepted.
Table-2. 1shows the difference between first and final year students in their conflict management style.
Tabe-2. 1
From the table-2. 1 it is found that the t-values are not significant in none of the dimension of conflict management style. Hence the hypothesis is not accepted for conflict management style, but this hypothesis is accepted for emotional regulation. In general, it is concluded that the first and final year university students are differ in their emotional regulation than their conflict management style.
Table-3shows the difference between nuclear and joint family students in their emotional regulation
Table-3
From the table-3 it is observed that the t-values are significant for cognitive reappraisal facet of emotional regulation than expressive suppression facet on the basis of students’ type of family. The table indicates that students from nuclear families are often used their cognitive reappraisal strategies in their emotional regulation rather than expressive suppression strategies. In general students from nuclear and joint families are partially differing in their emotional regulation. Hence the hypothesis is accepted.
Table-4: Shows the correlation between emotional regulation and conflict management styles of university students.
Table-1
**. Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0. 05 level (2-tailed).
From Table-4 it is found that the students’ emotional regulation is partially correlated with conflict management style. There are two strategies specifically involving in emotional regulation such as expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal, this table shows that cognitive reappraisal facet is significantly correlated with collaborating style of conflict management style at the level of 0. 05 (2-tailed). Cognitive reappraisal facet deals with person’s cognitive changes, such as, thinking, feeling, creating new ideas to interpreting emotional stimulus which means it involves recognition of the individual’s negative emotional response and reinterpretation of the situation by exchanging the negative thoughts to increasing positive thoughts. In addition collaborating style indicates that person’s high level of assertiveness and cooperation, it also attempts to provide the best solutions in conflict situation. In other hand, expressive suppression facet did not correlate with any dimension of conflict management style of university students. It indicates that university students are often using cognitive reappraisal facet of emotional regulation than expressive suppressive suppression. In general students’ emotional regulation and conflict management styles are significantly correlates at the level of 0. 05. Hence, the hypothesis is accepted.
CONCLUSSION
Table-1 shows university students’ emotional regulations do not significantly differ in their basis of stream of study. Table-2 shows university students’ emotional regulation differences on the basis of year of study. First and final year students are significantly differ in their cognitive reappraisal facet than expressive suppression facet, and table-2. 1 shows the difference about students’ conflict management style on the basis of year of study. It shows students from first and final year do not differs in their conflict management style. In addition table-3 shows the students’ differences on the basis of type of family in their emotional regulation. Table-4 shows university students’ emotional regulation strategies partially correlated with collaborating style of conflict management style. From the discussion we conclude that, students from nuclear and joint families are partially differing in their emotional regulation. In general, over all findings shows university students’ emotional regulation are partially correlated with conflict management style, and the study conclude that university students’ emotional regulation positively correlated with conflict management style.
REFERENCES
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joo Kim, E., Yamaguchi, A., Kim, M. S., and Miyahara, A. (2015). Effects of taking conflict personally on conflict management styles across cultures. Personality and Individual Differences , 72 , 143-149.
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