Reshaping intergenerational authority through digital competence: a qualitative study of ‘reverse socialization’ in Chinese-Korean families

This study investigates how digital competence among the younger generation reshapes intergenerational authority and family relationships through the process of reverse socialisation in Chinese-Korean (Chaoxianzu) families. Reverse socialisation refers to the bottom-up interaction of knowledge, skills, and values from younger to older generations. Chaoxianzu is characterised by transnational migration, bilingual environment, and distinctive ethnic culture. This study conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with parent–child dyads. Thematic analysis was employed to code participants’ experiences of digital media usage and intergenerational interactions. The findings reveal three progressive levels of reverse socialisation in Chaoxianzu families. At the material level, children leverage their technological advantages to mediate information flows in transnational family affairs, shifting instrumental authority toward the younger generation. At the perceptual level, younger generations gain cognitive authority in negotiating disagreements with their parents over career planning, language acquisition, and marital values through continuous achievement demonstration and validation. At the cultural level, younger generations promote the inheritance of Chaoxianzu culture from embodied practices to digital communication, which further reinforces ethnic belonging and identity-based authority. The findings indicate that digital competence has become a vital resource for younger generations in parent–child interactions and negotiations, thereby reshaping patterns of authority and family relationships through reverse socialisation.