Conflict Resolution in Quaker Families

A survey of conflict resolution in Quaker families was made among congregations of the Lake Erie Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, and the findings were compared to the national study on family violence. There were 130 male and 158female respondents. The Conflict Tactics Scales were used to measure the index rates of overall and severe physical violence in three types of family dyads: spouse/spouse, parent/child, and sibling/sibling. In general, there were no significant differences in the violence rates between the Quaker respondents and the rates for the national study. However, Quaker fathers reported more acts of overall violence toward their children than did fathers nationally; and Quaker sibling violence, both o verall and severe, was significantly higher than sibling violence rates reported nationally. The patterns of violence within the indices revealed striking differences between the Quaker sample and the national sample.