Changing Culture, Changing Self: Intergenerational Differences in Life Stories in Changing Urban China

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

The cultural contexts where individuals are embedded are not static but changing over time. Particularly, accompanying social and economic transitions in the macro-level, changes would be observed in the micro-level, such as in the family (Yoshikawa, Way & Chen, 2012). Urban China has experienced dramatic large-scale economic growth and social changes over the past four decades. Corresponding to these socio-economic transitions, family socialization and child development have been changed in the Chinese families. Yet, little is known about how such cultural changes may change the ways in which the self develops in the changing urban China.

In traditional Chinese society, social harmony, relatedness and emotion suppression were highly prized and considered as paramount to group functioning (Ho, 1996; Wang & Li, 2003). Yet, in contemporary Chinese society, especially in the first-tier urban Chinese cities that have experienced socio-economic transitions, individuality, autonomy and emotion expression are encouraged so as to fit in with the competitive demands of the market-oriented society. Indeed, few emerging studies have suggested that as function of such cultural change, on one hand, Chinese parents now encourage autonomy and help build social and emotional competence in their children (Way et al. 2013), and on the other hand, Chinese children themselves actively embrace self-assertive and self-expressive behaviors (Liu, Chen, Li & French, 2012). Consequently, self-development of children who are growing up in the contemporary Chinese society may be saliently different from their parents who grew up in the traditional Chinese society. The differences and changes in self-development may best be captured by the life stories of parents and children respectively. The present study thus sought to examine intergenerational differences in the life stories of parents and youths in changing urban China.

Participants were 50 parent-youth pairs residing in the first-tier cities of China, i.e., Shenzhen and Guangzhou (mean age of parents = 49.94 years, 37 mothers; mean age of youths = 21.08 years, 29 girls). Each parent-child pair independently narrated their life stories using the McAdam’s life stories interview instruction (2008, 2010). Four dimensions of self were coded: Autonomy, relatedness, competitiveness and emotional expression (i.e., positive and negative emotions). Story themes were also coded.

Specific to the narrated self, findings revealed that parents referenced more relatedness in their life stories than youths’ (M_parent= 23.20, 〖SD〗_parent= 17.780; M_youth= 12.04, 〖SD〗_youth= 9.333; F= 11.376, p= .001). Conversely, youths referenced more autonomy (M_youth= 13.10, 〖SD〗_youth= 6.932; M_parent= 6.72, 〖SD〗_parent= 5.039; F = 47.365, p =.000), competitiveness (M_youth= 8.28, 〖SD〗_youth= 8.873; M_parent= 5.92, 〖SD〗_parent= 6.091; F = 12.226, p = .001) and negative emotions (M_youth= 26.00, 〖SD〗_youth= 29.630; M_parent= 18.88, 〖SD〗_parent= 16.512; F = 17.548, p =.000) in their life stories than parents’. In line with the narrated self, family relations was the dominant story theme in the parents’ life stories.

In sum, findings illustrated the patterns of change in self-development between generations as function of the changing urban Chinese context. Discussion will focus on person-context fit and adaptation within a changing society.

Authors

• Wei Zhou, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen
  Presenting Author

• Jessie Bee Kim Koh, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zhongxin Jiang, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen
  Non-Presenting Author