Poster #173 - Reasons for raising a child among urban and rural Chinese parents: Implications for adolescent adjustment

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

For decades, psychologists, sociologists, demographers have been interested in reasons for parenthood, or reasons for raising a child (Hoffman, 1987; Langdridge, Sheeran, & Connolly, 2005; Nauck, 2007; Purewal & van Den Akker, 2007). As a key aspect of parents’ beliefs, reasons for raising a child is influenced by individual and country factors, as well as regional factors within the same country (e.g., urban vs. rural) (Albert, Trommsdorff, Mayer, & Schwarz, 2005; Kagitcibasi & Ataca, 2005; Mishra, Mayer, Trommsdorff, Albert, & Schwarz, 2005).

Past research suggests that people in rural area of China tend to preserve more traditional beliefs and values in their life practice than their urban counterparts (Chen, Bian, Xin, Wang, & Silbereisen, 2010). Given that traditional Confucian culture places a strong emphasis on raising a child for the sake of societal obligation (e.g. passing down the family name), it is possible that Chinese parents in rural and urban areas differ in their motivation to raise a child. Moreover, no prior research examined whether parents’ reasons for raising a child play a role in children’s adjustment. Drawing on self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), raising a child due to societal obligation, as opposed to simply enjoying having a child, may have negative effects on children’s psychological well-being, possibly because these parents tend to neglect their children’s feelings.

The sample consists of 345 Chinese parent-child dyads (220 dyads in rural area and 125 dyads in urban area; mean age of children at Wave 1 = 10.01 years; 52.2% girls) from a longitudinal nationally-representative study. At Wave 1, parents rated their reasons for raising a child in terms of societal obligation (e.g., raise a child to carry on lineage) and intrinsic happiness (e.g., raise a child to enjoy watching the child grow). Children reported on psychological well-being, such as subjective happiness, self-efficacy, and perceived popularity at Wave 1 and Wave 2 (4 years later).

Consistent to our hypothesis, results indicated significant urban-rural differences in parents’ reasons to raise a child (Figure 1). Compared to parents in urban area, parents in rural area tended to raise a child due to societal obligation, F = 15.99, p < .001. Parents in the two areas did not differ in their reasons in terms of intrinsic happiness.

Across urban and rural areas, parents’ heightened reasons for raising a child due to social obligation (vs. intrinsic happiness) predicted children’s lower subjective happiness (β = -.13, p < .05), self-efficacy (β = -.11, p < .05), and perceived popularity (β = -.101, p = .06) four years later as they navigate the adolescent years, controlling for their prior psychological adjustment (Figure 2). Moreover, association between parents’ reasons for raising a child and children’s psychological well-being did not vary across regions. Taken together, the findings not only demonstrate regional differences in Chinese parents’ reasons for raising a child, but also suggest that raising a child due to societal obligation may have negative impact in adolescent development.

Authors

• Beiming Yang, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Yang Qu, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author