Cultural Models of the Self and New Parenting Patterns in Shanghai

Abstract

It is well known that parents exert a profound impact on children's development. Their specific cultural parenting beliefs and practices usually lead to certain culturally desirable behaviors from the children and thus deserve more attention from researchers. To explore the current parenting patterns in Shanghai, qualitative research was designed and carried out. Analysis of the young parents’ responses to interview questions suggested that, compared with the previous generations, this younger generation of parents grew up mostly during the era of reform, known as the post-80s and display relatively higher rates of the construal of the independent self in their parenting. The article concludes that the cultural models of the self in parenting pattern are changing in response to today’s increased globalization, rapid modernization in Chinese society, development of technologies, and China’s one-child policy, etc.