Methods of Coping with Generational Conflict and its Relationship with Family Alienation A Field Study on a Sample of Students from the Faculty of Arts, Misurata University

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between family strategies for managing intergenerational conflict and levels of family alienation among students of the Faculty of Arts at Misurata University. It adopted a descriptive–analytical approach based on a social survey method. Data were collected through a questionnaire administered to a random sample of 100 participants. The study aimed to identify the strategies used by Libyan families to address the challenges of generational conflict and to measure how these strategies are reflected in feelings of alienation within the family.

The findings revealed no statistically significant correlation between the friendship-building style or the family containment style and levels of family alienation. In contrast, a significant correlation was found between inconsistent parental control and family alienation, as well as between negative criticism, pessimistic thinking, and higher levels of alienation.

The study recommended strengthening positive communication within families and organizing awareness programs to develop effective dialogue skills between parents and children. It also emphasized reducing inconsistency in parental control and avoiding negative criticism. Finally, it called for further studies with larger and more diverse samples to validate and generalize the findings.