Common Conflict Situations for Teenagers

Conflict situations arise among teenagers on a daily basis. Many times, minor conflict and disagreements can result in violence, according to the National Youth Prevention Resource Center. In order to avoid major problems, understand what kind of conflict situations arise to provide help in preventing aggressive and violent behavior.

Gossip

This type of conflict can cause a lot of problems for the teenager. If a teenager spreads gossip about another adolescent, this can cause hurt feelings, self-esteem issues and even violence. In order to solve the gossip problems, adolescents need to make an effort not to participate in spreading rumors. A peer mediator program helps the teenagers to learn to work as mediators in conflict situations to help reduce gossip, according to the National Youth Prevention Resource Center.

Fighting

Many teenagers take out their anger on others through shoving, punching and hitting. An adolescent can learn how to manage this type of conflict through learning to recognize triggers of anger, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. A trigger can consist of a teenager getting mocked or receiving bad grades. If teenagers learn how to identify triggers that cause the desire to fight, they may be able to avoid more conflict through fighting.

Parent-Child Conflict

As children become more independent, conflict arises with parents, according to Iowa State University 1. The parent needs to learn to manage the conflict with the child so it does not get blown out of proportion. Avoiding a power struggle with the teen will help manage the parent-child conflict. If the teenager gets escalated in a disagreement, the parent should suggest taking a break from the discussion and returning to it later.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying consists of students who hack into other students’ social network sites. It also may consist of posting negative information on their own social networking sites about others. Cyberbullying may contribute to low self-esteem and negative relationships 2. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, almost one-third of middle school students were targeted by cyberbullies during a period of one month 2. Parents can monitor for cyberbullying by checking their children's social network accounts and becoming aware of their friend networks.