PURPOSE: To verify the conflict resolution abilities of 7- and 8-year-old children with normal language development. METHODS: Participants were 40 children with normal language development, with ages ranging from 7 to 8 years and 11 months. To evaluate conflict resolution abilities, five hypothetical conflict contexts were presented. After each story presentation, children were asked the following question: "If you were him [examiner points to the story character], what would you do?". The answers were arranged into five levels and scored as it follows: level 0 (solutions that do not match the other levels) - score 0; level 1 (physical solutions) - score 1; level 2 (unilateral solutions) - score 2; level 3 (cooperative solutions) - score 3, and level 4 (mutual solutions) - score 4. RESULTS: Most of the proposed strategies were placed at levels 2 (M=2.55±0.34) and 3 (M=1.53±1.26). Significant but weak positive correlation was found between children's age and their scores on the conflict resolution test (p=0.03, r=0.34). These results suggest that unilateral strategies are still frequently used by 7- and 8-year-olds, although they are already capable of dialoguing efficiently to solve problems. CONCLUSION: At 7 and 8 years of age, children with normal language development frequently use unilateral and cooperative strategies to solve problems.
Child language; Language development; Speech; Cognition; Comprehension; Language tests
