Trauma Symptoms, Perceived Social Support, Emotional Competence and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Nursing School Teachers' Behavior Styles in Social Conflicts

Abstract

The aims of the study were to analyse the relationship between three styles used in social conflicts (cooperation, avoiding/adapting and winning) and some personality traits shared by future nursery school teachers, and to explore the possibility of predicting styles used in social conflicts on the basis of these traits. One hundred and seven students of Early and Preschool Education in Rijeka (M=23 years, 98% female students) completed a questionnaire that integrated the Scale of Attitudes Towards Behavioural Styles in Social Conflicts (Vlah, 2013), Trauma Symptoms Checklist (Šimić, Sesar, & Barišić, 2012), Social Support Appraisals Scale (Kurtović, 2013), Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (Takšić, 2002), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1979). Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were used to analyse the data. All three styles used in social conflicts were correlated to other research variables. Older students and those more competent in perceiving and understanding emotions and those with higher self-esteem with regard to oneself are significantly more oriented towards the cooperation style. The avoiding/adapting style can be predicted on the basis of students' somatic symptoms, while trauma symptoms present in students predict the winning style.