Negotiating Parental Guan of Internet Use: A Cultural Microsystem Perspective on Urban Chinese Adolescents’ Internet Use

Drawing from both semi-structured interviews with 24 urban Chinese adolescents and 332 written responses from Chinese adolescent collected via survey, the current study explores how urban Chinese adolescents perceive and negotiate the parental guan over their Internet use at home through a cultural microsystem perspective. The findings reveal that when adolescents are compliant with parental guan of the Internet, this compliance stems from both perceived parental sacrifices and internalization of cultural expectations, such as the importance of self-discipline and academic achievement. However, many also expressed dissent and sought to balance respect for parental authority with their own need for autonomy and privacy online, therefore engaging in passive, covert, and negotiated defiance. By positioning culture within the microsystem, this research contributes to parental mediation theory, offering a nuanced understanding of how culture shapes urban Chinese adolescents’ interpretation and navigation of the tensions between parental authority and individual autonomy in the context of Internet use.