What is Conflict?

Our vision is a society where conflict is navigated effectively. Here, we investigate what conflict means for different people and how conflict shows up in our lives.

We were created in 1987 to work through music and drama to help young unemployed people to understand the conflicts in their lives and give them the tools and confidence to make better choices when confronting conflict.

We quickly realised that conflict could take many shapes for young people:

  • Conflict with peers: probably the most publicly spoken about affects young people who tends to struggle with peer pressure in varying degrees: through ‘friendship groups’ and social media, some young people wanting to gain a sense of belonging and/or achieve status and respect can end up in conflicting situations with other young people.

  • Conflict with parents: External studies (for instance, De Goede et al. 2009l McGue et al.2005) have shown that, on average, conflict with parents is particularly strong for young people aged 11 and 15. This age represents a key transition point for young people as they leave ‘childhood’ to move into adolescence.

  • Conflict with authority: when young people show disruptive behaviour and struggle in their relationships with teachers, social workers, the police and any other formal authority figures.

  • Conflict with oneself: when young people struggle with their mental health and well-being.