From the Cautious to the Uninhibited: Understanding Psychological Growth of Urban Youth Female Solo Travelers in China

Amidst China’s social individualization and shifting gender attitudes, women’s solo travel has emerged as a practice that challenges traditional gendered spatial norms. Grounded in an interpretivist paradigm, this study adopts a qualitative approach integrating online textual analysis, auto-ethnography, and in-depth interviews to systematically explore the psychological growth trajectories of urban youth Chinese female solo travelers. The research constructs a three-stage cyclical model to depict and reveal the internal mechanisms through which solo travel fosters women’s sustained psychological growth via risk reappraisal, self-empowerment, and psychological capital cultivation. Theoretically, the study advances understanding of gender, space, and travel by specifying how solo travel transforms risk perceptions from “threat avoidance” to “challenge assessment” and builds self-efficacy through attributional shift, cognitive reappraisal, and accumulation of a mental evidence base. Practically, the findings inform the design of gender-sensitive tourism services, safety communication strategies, and social-media-based support systems that could usefully and meaningfully enhance women’s well-being.