Chinese immigrant children's and mothers' concepts regarding morality, social convention and children's personal autonomy

This research employed the domain model of social development which posits that social conventions such as modes of dress or manners are the arbitrary and agreed-upon uniformities in social behavior determined by the social system in which they are formed. In contrast with conventions, moral considerations are not arbitrary, but stem from factors intrinsic to actions such as harm to others. According to the domain theory, children's concepts of conventions are structured by underlying notions of social organization whereas their concepts of morality are structured by underlying conceptions of justice.; Participants were 72 Chinese mothers and 72 Chinese children aged 5 to 12 from the Chicago area. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the targeted children's and mothers' understanding of and differentiation between morality and social convention and further, their conceptions of personal autonomy by way of looking at how they differentiated matters in children's personal sphere and those under mothers' direction and control.; Results of this study indicated that Chinese children and mothers, irrespective of their cultural background, differentiated between morality and social convention. They also showed that the interviewee children's gender was not a significant factor in causing variations in their conceptual reasoning of moral, conventional, and personal matters whereas children's ages were. They provided additional evidence for the assumption that while moral transgressions generally pertain to similar types of events regardless of culture social conventions and personal issues are culturally specific.; Significance of this study lies in its inquiry into the domain theory and children's conceptions of personal autonomy. It also exists in its cross-cultural examination of differences in parenting practices and conflict solving strategies and their effect on children's expression and development of personal autonomy. In addition, results of this study have also touched upon some fundamental issues in child development, social development and psychology. They may help people in the Western culture get rid of the stereotypical image of Chinese as a group of people without claim for personal freedom and autonomy.