Like father, like son? Continuity and change in gender role attitudes in China

Understanding how gender attitudes are reproduced or transformed across generations requires attention to both direct family socialization and structural changes that shape individuals’ life trajectories. Drawing on linked three-generation data from the 2014 and 2020 waves of the China Family Panel Studies, this study examined intergenerational resemblance and transformation in gender role attitudes among adjacent generational dyads, grandparents (G1)–parents (G2), and G2–children (G3) within multigenerational family contexts in China. Using descriptive comparisons, dyadic measures, regression analyses, and longitudinal follow-up, we identify patterns of within-family resemblance and intergenerational divergence. Results show a clear generational shift toward egalitarian views, with public-sphere norms liberalizing more rapidly than private-sphere expectations around marriage and family roles. Despite these normative shifts, parental attitudes continue to exert substantial and durable associations with G3 attitudes in G2–G3 dyads, with paternal attitudes demonstrating greater temporal stability than maternal attitudes. Intergenerational resemblance is markedly stronger in father–child dyads, and daughters diverge more sharply from both parents than sons do, indicating gendered conditionality. In contrast, G1–G2 resemblance appears to be largely attributable to shared structural positions rather than direct value alignment. Intergenerational differences in education, marital status, and income further account for variation in parent–child gaps, and formal education is associated with attitudinal shifts. Taken together, the findings highlight how intergenerational patterns are shaped by interacting attitudinal, structural, and gendered dimensions, producing both continuity and transformation across generations in Chinese multigenerational family settings.