Patterns of adolescent–parent conflicts over schoolwork in Chinese families

ABSTRACT

Schoolwork is a significant source of adolescent–parent conflicts in Chinese families. Framed in Smetana’s model of social domain theory and with support from self-determination theory by Deci and Ryan, we used the qualitative methods of grounded theory approach to explore the patterns of adolescent–parent conflicts over schoolwork in Chinese families, as well as the role of parental psychological control and youths’ autonomy development in schoolwork conflicts. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with 28 parents and 35 adolescents in Yinchuan city of Ningxia. Intricate patterns of conflict reasoning and resolution are revealed in (a) parents’ conventional reasoning about schoolwork conflicts as driven by education system in China; (b) parents’ use of explicit and subtle coercive conflict resolution strategies; (c) adolescents’ conventional reasoning about conflicts on academic performance, multifaceted reasoning about conflicts on daily studies, and personal reasoning about conflicts on non-academic activities and (d) the process- and relationship-orientations of adolescents’ conflict resolution strategies. Reactive nature of Chinese teenagers’ conflict reasoning and resolution, as well as the intricate process involving parents’ psychological control and adolescents’ controlled motivation over schoolwork are indicated. Findings are discussed in the cultural context of contemporary China.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent–parent schoolwork conflicts
• conflict reasoning
• conflict resolution
• parental psychological control
• adolescents’ autonomy development

Acknowledgement

This manuscript is based on the first author's doctoral thesis which was undertaken at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The First Tier Universities (yiben) are commonly regarded as the best universities. The Second Tier Universities (erben) are of average academic standing while the Third Tier (sanben) refers to independent colleges with the lowest quality.