Conflict management styles among young male Arabs and Americans: exploring the effects of ethnic identity and self-construal

Abstract

This study examined self-construal, ethnic identity, and conflict management styles among young male Arabs studying in the United States (n = 185) and American college students (n = 145). Findings indicated that Arabs had a stronger ethnic identity than Americans. Both cultural groups were more independent than interdependent in their self-construal. In addition, both cultural groups held high independent and interdependent self-construal simultaneously, suggesting that self-construal is an orthogonal and not a unidimensional construct. In terms of conflict management styles, Americans preferred the integrating, the compromising, and the dominating styles the most, whereas Arabs preferred the same styles except the dominating. Americans chose the emotional expression and the aggressive style significantly more than Arabs did, and Arab participants chose the integrating, the third-party help, and the avoiding styles more than Americans did. Arab and American participants did not differ in their preference of the compromising, the dominating and the obliging conflict management styles. Self-construal predicted more conflict management styles in the American sample than in the Arab sample, suggesting that other dimensions may play an important role in conflict management style preferences among Arabs. Overall self-construal predicted more conflict styles than ethnic identity in both cultural groups.