Perception of Cross-Generational Differences in Child Behavior and Parent Socialization: A Mixed-Method Interview Study With Grandmothers in China

Abstract

China, having gone through rapid economic reform, supported by urbanization, educational expansion, and family size reduction over past decades, is an important part of a worldwide sociodemographic trend that can be summarized as a shift from community/Gemeinschaft to society/Gesellschaft. Correlated with this sociodemographic trend, our qualitative and quantitative analyses document intergenerational change in grandmothers’ perception of socializing environments and developmental pathways of Chinese children. Grandmothers from Beijing ranked (a) three generations of children at ages 4 to 6 in their families (themselves, their children, and their grandchildren) on autonomy, curiosity, self-expression, obedience, and shyness and (b) three generations of parents in their families (their parents, themselves, and their children) on child-rearing behaviors: support, praise, criticism, and control. As predicted, we found an intergenerational increase in perceived child autonomy, curiosity, and self-expression—individualistic traits adapted to Gesellschaft environments. Also as predicted, perceived child obedience and shyness, adapted to Gemeinschaft environments, declined across the generations. Related changes in reported child-rearing behaviors were also expected and found: Grandmothers judged that parental support and praise (promotion socialization), which foster individuated self-development, increased significantly, although the pattern of parental criticism and control (prevention socialization) was less clear. Promotion-based socialization strategies were found to serve as a partial mediator of intergenerational differences in individualistic child behaviors. Results suggest that the younger generations exhibit more promotion-based socialization, leading to more individualistic child traits, as they adapt to China’s more Gesellschaft ecology, comprising urbanization, formal education, and smaller family size.