The Relationship between Interpersonal Competence and Salient and Non-Salient Conflict Strategies of Japanese Students

This study aimed to examine: (a) the influence of interpersonal competence on the preference of Japanese for conflict avoidance which we refer to as non-salient strategies; (b) the influence of non-salient conflict strategies on satisfaction of strategy choice; and (c) a causal model of the three components; interpersonal competence, strategy, and effectiveness. Questionnaires were collected from 205 Japanese university students. A maximum likelihood multi-group mean and covariance structure analysis (MACS) revealed that the relationship among skill, strategy, and effectiveness differed between men and women. For men, hierarchical relationship management had a positive influence on active non-salient strategies and a negative influence on salient strategies, while self-restraint had a positive influence on active non-salient strategies and a negative influence on passive non-salient strategies for women. Our findings also indicated that active non-salient strategies had a positive influence on relational satisfaction for women, while a negative influence for men. While existing studies have not investigated relationships between competence in interpersonal communication and Japanese tendency of conflict avoidance, this study focused on how interpersonal competence and non-salient-salient conflict behaviors were related.