Children's goals and strategies in response to conflicts within a friendship

Little is known about the skills required for friendship, as distinct from those required for peer acceptance. The present study examined whether chil dren's goals and strategies in friendship conflict situations are predictiv e of their friendship adjustment, after accounting for level of peer accept ance. Fourth- and 5th-grade children (N = 696) responded to 30 hypothetical situations in which they were having a conflict with a friend. Results ind icated that children's goals were highly related to their strategies and th at children's goals and strategies were predictive of their real-life frien dship adjustment. Pursuing the goal of revenge toward a friend was the goal or strategy most strongly associated with lacking friends and having poor- quality friendships. Gender differences were also found for each goal and s trategy, with girls displaying a more prosocial goal and strategy orientati on than boys.