title: Initiating factors of Chinese intergenerational conflict: young adults' written accounts.
abstract: This study examined young adults' written accounts of intergenerational communication in conflict situations in the People's Republic of China. Using a content analysis approach, this study identified five major types of initiating factors that precipitated intergenerational conflict. Old-to-young criticism was most frequent, followed by illegitimate demand and rebuff. The least frequent initiating factors included young-to-old criticism and disagreement/generation gap. In addition, results indicated that more rebuffs were from nonfamily elders than from family elders, whereas disagreement with family elders was more frequent than with non-family elders. Proportionally speaking, no differences emerged between family and nonfamily elders for criticism (both old-to-young and young-to-old) and illegitimate demand. Results are discussed with respect to research in intergenerational communication, interpersonal conflict, and the Chinese socio-cultural norm of hierarchy and filial piety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7574, USA. ybzhang@ku.edu
authors.forename: Yan Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires