Chinese Adolescents’ Decision-Making, Parent-Adolescent Communication and Relationships

The present study described Mainland Chinese adolescents’ decision-making, and examined the relationship among their decision-making involvement, parent-adolescent communication and relationship variables by using Structural Equation Modeling. Results demonstrated that Chinese parents appeared to be less authoritarian than the prevailing literature had described. Chinese adolescents experienced a passage of autonomy development similar to that of their American counterparts. Good parent-adolescent communication was positively associated with cohesion and negatively associated with conflict. It also mediated the relationship between adolescent age and parent-adolescent conflict. The Yan R. Xia is affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Xiaolin Xie is affiliated with Northern Illinois University. Zhi Zhou is affiliated with First Data Corporation. John DeFrain is affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. William H. Meredith is affiliated with Kansas State University. Raedene Combs is affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Address correspondence to: Yan R. Xia, Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Omaha campus), 105c Ash 60th & Dodge, Omaha, NE 68128-0214. This paper is a contribution of the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research Division, Lincoln, NE 68583, Journal Series No. 13993. http://www.haworthpress.com/web/MFR 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J002v36n01_06 119 relationships between parent-adolescent communication and cohesion as well as the relationship between adolescents’ age and decision involvement were significantly different for boys and girls. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]