An exploration of the relationship between individualism and collectivism and parenting style among mainland Chinese parents

Abstract

Discussion on Chinese parenting style has intensified and diversified over the last few years. The present study aims to examine the relationship between cultural values of individualism and collectivism and the parenting styles of Chinese parents. The horizontal and vertical dimensions in individualism and collectivism and the domains of nurturance and restrictiveness in parenting style were used. Measures of questionnaires were obtained from a sample of 119 participants including 69 parents and 50 adolescents aged 14-15 recruited from Shenzhen, China. The results indicated that Chinese parents endorsed stronger horizontal and vertical collectivism, especially those values about the sense of familism, which is consistent with the traditional beliefs in Chinese culture to some extent. However, surprisingly, the results from parents’ self-report showed that parents (both fathers and mothers) who valued collectivism better were characterized as more nurturing while those who emphasized individualism more demonstrated more restrictiveness in child rearing, which is contrary to the hypotheses made for this research. Additionally, difference between parents’ self-report and adolescents’ perception of parenting was found to be significant in parental nurturance with parents reporting higher than did their child perceive, which gives support to the argument of considering different perspectives for parents’ studies.