Family Communication Patterns and Conflict Management Styles Young Adults Use with Their Parent in Chiang Mai Thailand

Abstract

This study examined how family communication patterns influence young Thais adults’ conflict management styles when they have opinions that are inconsistent with the opinions of their parents. The study also investigated sex differences in conflict management styles used when engaged in communication with their parents about topics where the young adults and their parents hold incompatible opinions. The respondents were 200 young adults (100 men and 100 women) who were residents of Chiang Mai Province. A self-administered questionnaire was used in data collection. A one-way MANOVA was used to analyze the data. This study also employed a personal interview with 20 respondents (10 men and 10 women). The interview asked about communication in family and conflict with their parents. Findings revealed that most Thai young adults in Chiang Mai reported their family communication patters is a consensual style (33%) and they use an integrating conflict management style (39.5%) when engaged in incompatible communication with their parents. There was a significant difference among family communication patterns on all five of the conflict management styles: compromising, avoiding, dominating,obliging, and integrating. Thai young adults who report their family communication patterns as consensual did not report a single dominant conflict management style. In addition, there was no significant differences between sexes in the conflict management styles used when engaged in communication with their parents.