(2016) Science and education, 2-3, 138-144. Odessa.

Olha Litvinova,
PhD (Candidate of Psychological Sciences), associate professor,
Department of Psychology, Pedagogy and Philosophy
Daryna Kolomoichuk,
4th-year student, Faculty of Psychology,
Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University,
20, Pershotravneva Str., Kremenchuk, Ukraine 

PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF BEHAVIOUR STRATEGIES IN INTERGENERATIONAL FAMILY CONFLICTS  

 One of the urgent issues of the modern society is a problem of the relations between people of different generations in a family. In case of total social instability the family becomes an institution where a person finds psychological resources for survival and emotional support. However, family relations may be destructive, which is caused by age, gender characteristics of conflict participants, the discrepancy of value orientations, peculiarities of life experiences of different generations. In modern literature, the issue of intergenerational relations is based on two approaches. In the first case, authors justify the idea of a global gap between generations, which is constantly getting worse. From another point of view, periods of conflict between the older and younger generations are replaced by a period of continuity. Intergenerational family conflicts may be also caused by the gap between the value orientations of children and parents, which is considered as the deformation of interpersonal communication and violation of the mechanisms of understanding; as the complexity of emotional separation of children; as a result of education; as the lack of clear psychologi-cal distance between the generations; as the inadequate self-esteem of family members on the basis of a negative personal experience. A consequence of intergenerational family conflicts may be a gap of kinship, the state of tension, emotional disorders, physical violence, and even family fragmentation. The carried out pilot study of the psychological peculiarities of behavioural strategies in intergenerational family conflicts has shown some differences in the behaviour of the older generation in conflict situations with their children and grandchildren. In case of a conflict situation with children the older generation representatives prefer compromise as a style of behaviour, which provides interaction, communication and a possibility of making concessions. In the conflict with their grandchildren, grandparents often choose the adjustment and avoidance, they do not want to harm the relations, and prefer following the views of the younger generation. These researches require further clarification, finding the social and psychological factors that can influence the behaviour of the older generation in conflict situations. These factors include living conditions, financial status, motives of behaviour, gender of a grandchild and a grandparent, agnation or cognation peculiarities, etc.

  family, generation, conflict, interaction between generations, compromise, avoidance.

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