Separatedness and Connectedness in the Parent-Adolescent Relationship as Predictors of Adolescent Self-Esteem in US and Chinese Samples

SUMMARY This study examined the impact of relationship connectedness (i.e., conformity to parents) and relationship separatedness (i.e., parental autonomy granting) on the self-esteem of mainland Chinese and European-American adolescents. The findings indicate that adolescent autonomy from parents is a consistent positive predictor of adolescent self-esteem among both Chinese and US samples regardless of gender. However, conformity to parents revealed a more complex series of relationships that varied across gender and cultural group. Adolescent conformity to parents predicted self-esteem most consistently among European-American sons, while only daughters' conformity to mothers predicted self-esteem among the Chinese sample. Contrary to hypotheses, the relationship between autonomy from parents and adolescent self-esteem was not stronger and more consistent within the European-American sample (i.e., the individualistic society) than in the sample from mainland China (i.e., the collectivistic society). Similarly, the relationships between adolescent conformity to parents was not a stronger and more consistent predictor of self-esteem among the Chinese sample in comparison to the US sample. The findings for this study point to the particular importance of aspects of both individualism and collectivism that appear to operate within the socialization processes of the same culture regardless of the dominant macro level social orientation. Another important finding was the patterns of gender differences for the specific influences of either relationship separatedness (autonomy) and connectedness (conformity) on adolescent self-esteem.