Narrative Structure in European-American and Chinese Immigrant Mother-Child Future Talk

• In Event: Learning Through Parent-Child Conversations in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

Self-knowledge is multifaceted, one facet of which is the extended self. Remembering the self in the past and imagining the self in the future constitute the extended self and are key to self-continuity. Extensive research has examined remembering the self in the past, while much less is known about imagining the self in the future. Developmentally, how parents scaffold children to talk about future experiences constitutes a critical medium for the development of imagination of the self in the future. Particularly, how parents structure such co-narration would help children learn how to structure their narration of future experiences and develop their imagination of the self in the future. Furthermore, culture may influence how parents structure such co-narration. In the European-American cultures that emphasize a heighten focus on the external world and the personal self, orientation and evaluation may be vital structural elements that parents focus on. Conversely, in the Chinese cultures that emphasize proper behavior, conduct and moral teachings, referential and coda may be crucial structural elements that parents pay attention to. This study thus examined narrative structure in mother-child future talk in the European-American and Chinese immigrant contexts.

Participants were 54 European-American and 49 Chinese immigrant mother-child pairs. European-American children were aged 8.23 years (SD = .45 years, 35 girls) and Chinese immigrant children were aged 8.12 years (SD = .48 years, 23 girls). Each mother-child pair was asked to co-narrate one near future event and one distant future event that the child would experience. Narrative volume (turns, propositions and words) and narrative structure (orientation, referential, evaluation and coda) were coded for mothers and children separately.

European-American mothers made more turns, F(1, 93) = 3.61, p = .06, and had more propositions, F(1, 93) = 4.36, p < .05, than Chinese immigrant mothers during near future event co-narration. European-American children had more propositions, F(1, 93) = 3.42, p = .07, than Chinese immigrant children during near future event co-narration. No other differences were found.

More importantly, European-American mothers provided more orientation, F(1, 93) = 11.24, p < .01, and more evaluation, F(1, 93) = 7.19, p < .01, than Chinese immigrant mothers during near future event co-narration. Similarly, European-American mothers provided more orientation, F(1, 92) = 4.32, p < .05, and more evaluation, F(1, 92) = 10.51, p < .01, than Chinese immigrant mothers during distant future event co-narration. Correspondingly, European-American children provided more orientation, F(1, 93) = 13.01, p < .01, and more evaluation, F(1, 93) = 3.42, p = .07 than Chinese immigrant children during near future event co-narration. There was a non-significant trend that European-American children provided more orientation, F(1, 92) = 2.15, n.s., and more evaluation, F(1, 92) = 6.11, p < .05 than Chinese immigrant children during distant future event co-narration. No differences on referential were found. The frequency for coda was too low (M < 1.0) and was not further considered.

Findings suggest that culture influences the structure of co-narration during mother-child future talk, thereby supporting the development of a cultured extended self.

Authors

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

• Tong Wu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

• Yan Jin, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

• Yue Li, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

• Qi Wang, Cornell University