ABSTRACT
This chapter examines perceived resolvability, the emotions of anger and compassion, and conflict strategy usage in K–12 parent–teacher serial arguments. It offers serial arguments in the education context by investigating how parents and teachers navigate serial arguments about their K–12 students. Once directly involved in teacher and curriculum selection and oversight, parents are relative observers, with little to no control over teacher selection, school setting, curriculum, and activities. With regard to student–teacher serial arguments, high school and college classroom perceived resolvability is related positively to civility and positive classroom climate. Both parents and teachers experienced moderate levels of perceived resolvability regarding their K–12 serial arguments, which was related positively to compassion and integrative communication and negatively to anger, criticism, and avoidance. The chapter explores whether levels of emotions and perceptions differ by role and examines the extent to which these emotions and perceptions are associated with the usage of integrative, distributive, and avoidance conflict strategies.
