Ethnic Identity, Self-Construal, and Conflict Management Styles: A Cross-Cultural Study of Young Male Arabs and Americans

• In Event: Chasing the Elephant in the Living Room: Cultural Approaches to Understanding Conflict

Abstract

This study compared young male Arabs and Americans’ self-construals and conflict management styles with their peers. Findings indicated that both cultural groups were more independent than interdependent in their self-construal albeit the Arabs were more interdependent than the Americans counterparts. Findings also demonstrated that 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.

Authors

• Leysan Khakimova, University of Maryland

• Yan Bing Zhang, University of Kansas

• Jeffrey Hall, University of Kansas