Attitude Toward Conflict Scale

Abstract

The Attitude Toward Conflict Scale (ATC) is a specialized psychological assessment tool developed by J.A. Lam in 1989. Its primary function is to quantify an individual’s dispositional attitude toward interpersonal conflict, with a specific focus on evaluating the acceptance or rejection of violence as a strategy for resolving disagreements. Originally designed for use in educational environments, the ATC is primarily administered to youth to gauge their predispositions toward either constructive or destructive conflict behaviors.

The instrument serves as a critical diagnostic tool, particularly within school settings, allowing educators and researchers to identify students who may be at risk of resorting to aggressive tactics. This information is vital for the development, implementation, and evaluation of school-based intervention programs, such as mediation initiatives, aimed at cultivating positive conflict management skills among students.

Keywords

Attitude Toward Conflict Scale, ATC, Conflict, Conflict management, Violence, Conflict resolution, Peer relationships, Delinquency, Youth violence, Social psychology, Attitudes.

Authors

J.A. Lam (1989).

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ATC is the empirical measurement of an individual’s dispositional stance regarding interpersonal disagreements. It is specifically calibrated to distinguish between individuals—particularly young people—who are inclined to utilize aggressive or violent methods and those who favor peaceful, collaborative conflict resolution strategies. This diagnostic capability is essential for targeted intervention.

Beyond its use in identifying at-risk youth, the ATC supports researchers and practitioners in gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying psychological attitudes that drive conflict behaviors across diverse settings, including peer interactions and organizational dynamics. By providing a quantifiable measure of these destructive tendencies, the instrument assists in assessing potential areas for behavioral modification and improvement related to conflict engagement.

Construct

The Attitude Toward Conflict scale fundamentally measures an individual’s generalized attitude toward conflict. While the widely utilized 8-item version is highly focused on assessing attitudes related to the acceptability and necessity of using violence, the scale is conceptually anchored in established models of conflict management.

These conceptual models typically categorize responses to conflict based on the dimensions of assertiveness and cooperativeness. Historical descriptions of a broader, 24-item version of the ATC suggest that it aimed to measure four classic conflict styles or subscales:

• Avoidance: Reflects the tendency to withdraw from conflict situations, prioritizing the maintenance of the status quo over addressing the disagreement.
• Competition: Characterizes the view of conflict as a zero-sum, win-or-lose scenario, where the individual strives to dominate the opposing party or secure a personal advantage.
• Accommodation: Measures the willingness to compromise personal goals or needs to satisfy the concerns of the other party, often motivated by the desire to preserve the relationship.
• Collaboration: Represents the tendency to work cooperatively to find a mutually acceptable resolution that fully addresses the concerns of all involved parties, often termed a win-win approach.

Validity

The validity of the 8-item version of the Attitude Toward Conflict Scale is typically detailed within the specific program evaluation kits where the instrument is deployed. The scale exhibits strong face validity, as the items directly query beliefs regarding the acceptability and necessity of physical aggression or fighting during disagreements.

In terms of concurrent validity within youth populations, high scores on the ATC—indicating a favorable attitude toward destructive conflict—are generally expected to correlate positively with established measures of aggression, antisocial behavior, and propensity for violence. Researchers seeking comprehensive details on criterion or construct validity studies conducted during the scale’s development are strongly advised to consult Lam’s original 1989 program evaluation kit, which links measured attitudes to observable conflict behaviors.

Reliability

Specific quantitative reliability coefficients, such as Cronbach’s alpha or test-retest correlations, for the concise 8-item ATC scale are not explicitly included in the summary documentation provided. However, the inclusion of the instrument in authoritative resources, such as the CDC’s assessment tool guide, implies that the scale meets requisite minimum standards for internal consistency necessary for effective use in both research and program evaluation contexts.

Factor Analysis

Explicit results from detailed factor analysis defining the underlying factor structure of the 8-item Attitude Toward Conflict scale are unavailable in the provided source material. Although the broader conceptual framework of conflict management suggests the existence of multiple latent factors, the constrained and focused nature of the 8 items—which overwhelmingly gauge pro- or anti-violence attitudes—suggests a strong likelihood that these items load predominantly onto a single, dominant factor. This factor is best characterized as Attitude toward Destructive Conflict Resolution or the Acceptance of Violence.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological assessment tool.

Format: 5-point Likert scale, ranging from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree.

Language Available: English (Original documentation).

Population Group: Youth/Students.

Age Group: Typically utilized among sixth grade students (approximately 11–12 years old).

Population Details: Specifically validated for use with sixth grade students in an urban setting.

Test Methodology: The scale comprises 8 items designed specifically to measure attitudes concerning the use of violence in conflict situations. Scoring is accomplished by summing the point values (1 to 5) assigned to each response. The scoring methodology is as follows:

• Strongly agree = 5
• Agree = 4
• Neither = 3
• Disagree = 2
• Strongly disagree = 1

The total possible score ranges from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 32. A maximum score of 32 signifies a highly favorable attitude toward employing violence to resolve disagreements, whereas the minimum score of 8 indicates a strong negative attitude toward violence. If one or two responses are left blank, a pro-rated score can be calculated by multiplying the average point value of the completed items by eight. However, the scale should not be scored if more than two responses are missing.

Keywords

Attitude Toward Conflict Scale, ATC, Conflict Management Styles, Conflict resolution, Youth violence, School mediation, Social attitudes, Aggression, Violence prevention.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available in source material.

Correspondence Address: Lam, J.A. (1989). School mediation program evaluation kit. Amherst, MA: National Association for Mediation in Education.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1989 (Published in the School mediation program evaluation kit).

Fees and Requirements: No fees or specific requirements are noted in the source material, suggesting the instrument is generally available for use in non-commercial research and educational program evaluation.

Download Information: The instrument can be located on page 25 of “Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools.” The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf. Additional resource links provided include http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED486261.pdf and http://oregonmentors.org/library/evaluationtools/keyword/15/.

Reference’s

Lam, J.A. (1989). School mediation program evaluation kit. Amherst, MA: National Association for Mediation in Education.

Lam JA. School mediation program evaluation kit. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Office, 1989. (Unpublished)

Items of the Attitude Toward Conflict Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. If I’m mad at someone I just ignore them.
2. Even if other kids would think I’m weird I would try to stop a fight.
3. It’s O.K. for me to hit someone to get them to do what I want.
4. Sometimes a person doesn’t have any choice but to fight.
5. When my friends fight I try to get them to stop.
6. There are better ways to solve problems than fighting.
7. I try to talk out a problem instead of fighting.
8. If people do something to make me really mad, they deserve to be beaten up.