| dc.description.abstract | Chinese-American adolescents were compared with the major group in the
United States (European-American adolescents) in negotiating self-concepts related with
autonomy and connectedness. Senses of autonomy and connectedness were evaluated by
examining adolescents' cultural value orientations (individualism and collectivism),
parent-adolescent relationships (decision-making styles and power perception), and
relations between the two constructs. Participants included 56 first- or second-generation
Chinese-American adolescents (18.5% of first-generation and 81.5% of secondgeneration)
and 45 European-American adolescents, accompanied with their mothers (47
Chinese-American mothers and 42 European-American mothers).
In terms of cultural value orientations, Chinese- and European-Americans' selfconcepts
were consistently oriented towards collectivism more than individualism in
adolescents and mothers. With regard to parent-adolescent relationships, Chinese-
American adolescents have identified with the dominant culture to show similar desires
of being autonomous as European-American adolescents. However, Chinese-American mothers adopted more authoritarian, conservative, and inflexible parenting styles than
European-American mothers. With regard to the relations between variables of cultural
value orientations and variables of parent-adolescent relationships, the pattern of
findings was consistent with the notion that Chinese-American adolescents who
internalize highly collectivistic cultural values displayed more collectivistic
communication styles in parent-adolescent relationships than European-American
adolescents. | en |
