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29 SEPTEMBER 2008
NO 1353
A conflict cycle example
It is dinner time at the residential treatment center. The cafeteria is filled with the noise of children and staff members involved in completing the evening meal.
Mark, a new resident, walks back to his table with his tray of food. As he begins to sit down, Bobby, the boy seated in the chair next to him accidently knocks over Mark's cup of milk. It spills on the table and runs down into Mark's chair. Mark calls Bobby "a dumb ass!" Bobby jumps up and shouts obscenities back and pushes Mark. At this moment a new child care worker, Howard, runs over and grabs Mark from behind. When the worker grabs Mark, the boy begins to struggle and curse at the worker, who yells at Mark and tells the boy to stop using "foul language" and to calm down. The boy resists the worker's efforts to hold him. Howard holds the boy tighter.
By now the cafeteria is in an uproar, and the other child care workers try to calm the groups of children seated at the other tables. The struggle becomes more physical. The worker and boy end up rolling around on the floor. Other staff members intervene and finally Mark is removed from the room. This is a typical example of what can happen when a child care worker overreacts to a conflict cycle situation.
The boy
In analyzing this example, let us look first at the boy, Mark. We have
little information about his social history except that he is 15 years
old, comes from a broken home, and was removed from five foster homes
before his admission to the residential center; he has been at the
center for two weeks.
Worldview
The boy probably sees the world as a dangerous place in which everyone
will try to take advantage of him. It is therefore necessary to protect
himself. He probably has little trust in adults. He possibly feels that
the world has treated him unjustly, and one way to get respect and
maintain control is to have the ability to defend oneself.
Self-concept
That the boy is a product of a broken home and had been removed from
several foster homes indicates that his sense of selfworth is probably
very low.
Values
This youngster has had to learn to protect himself from peers and
adults. His response to verbal and physical attack has been to fight
back.
Stress
In considering this youngster's overall situation, one can easily
understand that the boy has had much stress in his life and that his
ability to manage daily stress would not be very good. The stressful
incident in the example occurred when Bobby knocked over Mark's milk.
More stress was created when the child care worker grabbed Mark from
behind.
Feelings
The boy must have experienced a number of feelings in this situation:
anger-at the other boy and at the child care worker; frustration he
didn't initiate the problem; embarrassment being singled out in front of
his peers; helplessness-he didn't create the situation but he still was
grabbed by the worker; vulnerability-there was seemingly no one there to
defend him. When the worker intervened he didn't say anything to the
other boy, Bobby, who caused the milk to spill and who pushed Mark. This
must have made Mark feel that he had been unjustly treated by the
worker.
Behavior
The boy expressed his feelings of stress in a number of ways. He cursed
at the other boy and he was defiant toward the child care worker.
Worker's response
The worker overreacted and responded negatively to the crisis and
contributed to the perpetuation of the conflict situation instead of
responding in a way that would have caused less stress for himself and
the boy. When we look at what has created the stress, feelings, and
behavior for the boy, it is important that we try to understand how the
youngster has interpreted or perceived the worker's response to his
behavior.
In this example, the youngster probably perceived that the child care worker was trying to hurt him and was going to treat him unjustly. Therefore, the intervention of the worker created greater stress, more overt feelings and more negative behavior.
This model is different from other models because not only does it help us to analyze the stress, feelings, and behavior of the child it also allows us to analyze the stress, feelings, and behavior of the child care worker involved.
NORMAN W. POWELL
Powell, N.W. (1990). The conflict cycle: A useful model for Child and Youth Care workers. In Kruger, M. and Powell, N. (Eds.). Choices in Caring. Washington D.C. Child Welfare League of America. pp.32-34.
