Childhood memory and self-description in young Chinese adults: the impact of growing up an only child.
This study examined the relationship between self-description and childhood memory in 255 Chinese young adults. Ninety-nine participants were from only child families and 156 had siblings. All participants completed two questionnaires: a version of the Twenty Statements Test of Kuhn and McPartland (Kuhn, M.H., McPartland, T.S., 1954. An empirical investigation of self-attitudes. American Sociological Review 19, 68-76) eliciting self-descriptions, and an instrument asking for earliest and other childhood memories. Based on theories positing a relationship between autobiography and the organization of the self, we predicted differences on both measures between only- and sibling-child participants. Findings indicated that compared with sibling children, only children had more private and fewer collective self-descriptions, earlier first memories, more specific and more self-focused memories. In addition, autobiographical measures were influenced by cohort, gender, preschool attendance, and urban/rural family effects. Findings are discussed in terms of literature on autobiography, the self and childhood in China.
Wang
Q
Q
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. qwang@wjh.harvard.edu
Leichtman
M D
MD
White
S H
SH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009863:Only Child / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment