CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT-MANAGEMENT AND COPING IN HOMELESS CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

In this largely exploratory study of the conflict management and copin g behavior of homeless adolescents, the authors interviewed 176 famili es (mother-adolescent dyads) living in New York City welfare hotels. R esults indicated that peer conflict was the ''worst'' problem of the p revious month as reported by approximately 50% of these youth. Homeles s adolescents demonstrated conflict management and coping patterns tha t differed in certain respects from adolescent patterns previously des cribed in the literature. The implications of these differences as wel l as directions for future research are discussed.