A Comparative Study on Marital Conflict Resolution Strategies in Japan and South Korea:

<p>　　The current study conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 Japanese and 10 South Korean middle-aged married women to ascertain how different cultural construals of the self and views on the modern family affect incidents of martial conflict. This study also ascertained the intent behind the conflict resolution strategies those women adopted. Results revealed that conflicts arose in different contexts. In Japan, conflict arose around role-sharing as part of cohabitation and following rules. In South Korea, conflicts arose around a need for marital cohesiveness achieved through shared meaning or values. Differences in the intent behind conflict resolution strategies (e.g. “asserting” “avoiding,” “compromising,” and “yielding” ) that were adopted were also evident. Japanese wives who adopted either a strategy with a high level of other-orientation or a high level of self-concern adopted an “asserting” strategy that ascribed their negative feelings to their spouse or a “yielding” strategy that ascribed their negative feelings to themselves in order to maintain their marital relationships. Some Japanese wives adopted a “compromising” strategy. When their opinions differed with those of their spouses, Japanese wives withdrew in order to get on their spouse's good side and increase the likelihood that their opinion would be listened to. In contrast, South Korean wives perceived their own feelings first and asserted themselves when interacting with their spouses.</p><p>　　South Korean wives adopted a “yielding” strategy when third parties were involved, i.e. wives were cognizant of children's views of their father. These findings indicated that one's role in the family and one's personal views on the family affected the strategies that Japanese wives adopted during marital conflicts while one's emotions and Confucian views of the family stressing cohesiveness affected the strategies that South Korean wives adopted during marital conflicts. Results also suggested that Japanese and South Korean wives adopted a certain strategy during conflicts. Japanese wives adopted a “compromising” strategy while South Korean wives adopted a “yielding” strategy in light of their children.</p>