Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context

Although there are many well-known theories of adolescent development in the West, there is a notable lack of theory with empirical support to understand the process and outcome of Chinese adolescent development. This paper attempts to advance a Chinese conception of adolescent development in a migr...

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Main Author: Ching-man Lam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2007-01-01
Series:The Scientific World Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2007.66
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author Ching-man Lam
author_facet Ching-man Lam
author_sort Ching-man Lam
collection DOAJ
description Although there are many well-known theories of adolescent development in the West, there is a notable lack of theory with empirical support to understand the process and outcome of Chinese adolescent development. This paper attempts to advance a Chinese conception of adolescent development in a migration context. A qualitative study approach was used to explore the experiences and views of 19 Chinese-Canadian adolescents from Hong Kong and ten of their parents. The findings indicate that parents and adolescents co-construct the dominant theme of “covert parental control” in the adolescent development process, and the concept of “self in relational networks” as the adolescent development outcome. Based on the developmental experiences of these Chinese-Canadian adolescents, a culturally sensitive model of Chinese adolescent development is proposed. This model incorporates culture and migration as two essential components of the framework for a theory regarding Chinese adolescent development. It acknowledges the experience of Chinese-Canadian immigrants, takes account of the participants' personal meanings, and incorporates the indigenous Chinese cultural concepts of bao (reciprocity), guan (guidance), and guanxi (relationship).
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spelling doaj-art-aaff640b8a834796be6a0731b13ac0e62025-02-03T06:06:49ZengWileyThe Scientific World Journal1537-744X2007-01-01750651810.1100/tsw.2007.66Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration ContextChing-man Lam0Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong KongAlthough there are many well-known theories of adolescent development in the West, there is a notable lack of theory with empirical support to understand the process and outcome of Chinese adolescent development. This paper attempts to advance a Chinese conception of adolescent development in a migration context. A qualitative study approach was used to explore the experiences and views of 19 Chinese-Canadian adolescents from Hong Kong and ten of their parents. The findings indicate that parents and adolescents co-construct the dominant theme of “covert parental control” in the adolescent development process, and the concept of “self in relational networks” as the adolescent development outcome. Based on the developmental experiences of these Chinese-Canadian adolescents, a culturally sensitive model of Chinese adolescent development is proposed. This model incorporates culture and migration as two essential components of the framework for a theory regarding Chinese adolescent development. It acknowledges the experience of Chinese-Canadian immigrants, takes account of the participants' personal meanings, and incorporates the indigenous Chinese cultural concepts of bao (reciprocity), guan (guidance), and guanxi (relationship).http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2007.66
spellingShingle Ching-man Lam
Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
The Scientific World Journal
title Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
title_full Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
title_fullStr Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
title_full_unstemmed Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
title_short Towards a Chinese Conception of Adolescent Development in a Migration Context
title_sort towards a chinese conception of adolescent development in a migration context
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2007.66
work_keys_str_mv AT chingmanlam towardsachineseconceptionofadolescentdevelopmentinamigrationcontext