Transcript Subjective well-being among New Zealand Chinese and New

Subjective well-being among New
Zealand Chinese and New Zealand
Europeans: Does intergenerational
communication matter?
James H. Liu and Susan Gee
Victoria University of Wellington
Sik-hung Ng
City University of Hong Kong
Acculturation and Adaptation
While much of cross-cultural psychology has
emphasized cultural differences, researchers on
acculturation have focused on the global
movement of peoples across cultural boundaries
and the psychological process of adaptation. This
literature tends to emphasize cultural hybridity
(merging of aspects of two cultures) rather than
differentiation, and has found that bicultural selfconstrual is typical among immigrant populations.
Increasing Asian (Chinese)
Population in New Zealand
In New Zealand (NZ), the most rapidly growing
ethnic group is Asian, most particularly Chinese.
Chinese now constitute about 2.5% of NZ’s
population of 4 million. Many of these are new
immigrants who have arrived in the last 10 years
and live mainly in the cities of Auckland,
Wellington, and Christchurch. This has been a
sustained trend in NZ demographics.
Focus on Life Satisfaction/SWB
Because many of these are new migrants,
issues associated with aging have been
under-researched. Here, we will focus on
life satisfaction (or the subjective wellbeing-- SWB) of New Zealand Chinese and
Europeans aged 40-80.
Culturally realized pathways to SWB?
Our research question is to ask whether a
single universal model of life satisfaction is
sufficient to describe relationships among
variables in these two ethnic groups, or
whether “cultural selfways” require
alternative models of life satisfaction for
ethnic subpopulations in a single nation.
Universal and Culture Specific
Predictors of LS/SWB
The international literature suggests that
health and economic hardship (not wealth
per se, but lack thereof) are cross-cultural
predictors of SWB/LS.
Social relations are also important, but unlike
health and hardship, this factor can be
operationalized in a variety of ways and
could have culture specific effects.
Chinese Cultural Expectations for
Intergenerational Communications
Chinese and Europeans may hold different
expectations regarding communication among
family members, especially concerning elderly
parent or grandparent. Filial piety obligations and
responsibility form the core of a strong
commitment relationship for Chinese, that should
be maintained regardless of cost. For
intergenerational relationships among Chinese
living in Western societies, part of the cost may be
communication non-accommodation, with
different values and practices across generations.
Western Expectations for
Intergenerational Communication
Among Westerners, by contrast, relationships
with even close kin have a voluntary
component, and so amount of contact with
elderly family could be reduced if there is a
substantial failure to communicate in a
mutually satisfactory manner. (Even in
Taiwan, data show that elderly parents
prefer to live by themselves rather than with
their adult children).
Cultural pathways for
intergenerational commuication
In traditional Chinese culture, accommodation is not
necessarily the norm for intergenerational
communication. Rather, educating and correcting
their children is a lifelong project for Chinese
parents. These expectations will influence SWB.
We hypothesize that communication nonaccommodation plays different roles for NZ
Chinese compared to NZ Europeans.
Hypotheses
• HYP 1. The experience of communication nonaccommodation is higher among NZ Chinese than
NZ Europeans.
• HYP 2. Intergenerational communication with
elderly family is perceived more as a obligation
rather than as a desire among NZ Chinese
compared to NZ Europeans
• HYP 3. Communication non-accommodation is
negatively related SWB and desire for contact
among NZ Europeans, but not NZ Chinese
Study 1. Intergenerational communication
among the young and middle-Aged
• Characteristics of the Sample (Family members):
• NZ Europeans: 298, 137 young (avg age=17), 161
middle-aged (avg age=40),
• Mean residency=30 years
• NZ Chinese: 286, 136 young (avg age=17), 150
middle-aged (avg age=47)
• Mean residency= 18 years; 79% completely fluent
in English, 32% in Chinese; 83% conversant in
both languages.
Conversational Experiences with Older Family
for NZ Europeans and NZ Chinese
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese
2
1.5
1
Comparing
NonDisapproval Accomodati Honouring
Accomodati
on
on
Giving
Autonomy
Empathy
Helpful
Lessons
Take Part in Conversation because...
5
NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Wanted to
Obliged to
Filial Piety Obligations and Expectations...
5
4.5
NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
NZ Chinese
Exp from Grandparents
NZ Europeans
Expectations from
Parents
Obl to Grandparents
Obligations to Parents
1
Intergenerational communication with
elderly family for NZ Europeans
Conv
Freq
Conv
Length
Wanted
to
Oblige
d to
Comparing
-.07
Non-.17*
Accommodation
Disapproval
-.04
-.18*
-.12
-.22*
-.32**
-.16*
Accommodation
Honouring
Autonomy
Empathy
Helpful
Lessons
.15*
.08
.10
.16*
.07
.13
.17*
.19**
.26**
.11
.28**
.39**
YOU
feel
Happy
-.10
-.28**
THEY
feel
Happy
-.13
-.22**
-.27**
.31**
-.25**
-.19**
.34**
.34**
.41**
.31**
.20*
-.25**
-.15*
-.34**
-.22**
-.05
.47**
.47**
.43**
.44**
.24**
.34**
.38**
.32**
.30**
.12
Intergenerational communication with
elderly family for NZ Chinese
Conv
Freq
Conv
Length
Wanted
to
Oblige
d to
Comparing
.06
Non.06
Accommodation
Disapproval
.11
.10
.09
-.01
-.04
-.05
Accommodation
Honouring
Autonomy
Empathy
Helpful
Lessons
.09
.07
.05
.09
.12
.12
.10
.20**
.06
.20**
.07
.09
YOU
feel
Happy
-.01
-.08
THEY
feel
Happy
-.05
-.04
-.08
.19**
-.10
-.17*
.33**
.34**
.28**
.20**
.13
-.11
-.08
-.19**
-.21**
-.10
.42**
.45**
.34**
.38**
.21**
.33**
.39**
.27**
.24**
.11
SUMMARY STUDY 1
 Frequency of conversation with older family is the same





in the 2 groups
Young and Middle-aged NZ Europeans ENJOY
conversation with their older family more than NZ Chinese
NZ Chinese feel that it is their duty and responsibility to
converse with older family more than NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese not as sensitive to non-accommodation on the
part of older family (they endure or ignore these)
NZ Europeans reciprocated non-accommodation on the
part of older family with avoidance reduced happiness
Both groups enjoy positive feedback from the elders
Study 2: Intergenerational Communication
and well-being among middle-aged and
older NZ Europeans and Chinese
Age group
40’s
50’s
60’s
70’s
TOTAL
NZ European
226
208
208
163
805
NZ Chinese
202
175
164
74
615
Measuring Life Satisfaction/SWB
Life Satisfaction Items (from James & Davies, 1986
and WHOQOL, 1998)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
These are the best years of my life
The things I do are as interesting to me as they ever were
Compared to other people, I get down in the dumps too
often (r)
I would not change my past life, even if I could
How would you rate your quality of life?
How often do you have negative feelings such as feeling
down, despair, anxiety, depression? (r)
Cronbach’s Alpha on Z-scores=.65
Measures of Hardship and Health
• Hardship (8 items, NZ Dept Social Welfare): cold
in winter to keep heating bill down, made do
without meat or main food item, wear worn out
clothing when going out, accommodation run
down, Alpha=.75
• Health (7 items, WHOQOL,1998): physical pain,
need for medical treatment, enough energy, ability
to work and function in everyday life, able to get
around, satisfied with sleep, etc., Alpha=.80
Measures of Interaction with Adult Children
• Accommodation (Alpha=.85): They will listen when I have
a problem; They make me feel loved and care for.
• Non-accommodation (Alpha=.75): They can get on my
nerves; We don’t understand each other; They can be too
demanding
• Time for Interaction (Alpha=.69): I would like to spend
more time together, but they are busy; I would like to
spend more time together, but I am busy.
• Control of Time (Alpha=.90): We have an equal say in
arranging when visits of time spent together will take place;
We have an equal say in determining length of visits or
time spent together; I know ahead of time when visits or
time spent together will occur.
Communication with Adult Children by Older
and Middle Aged NZ Chinese and Europeans
5
4
3
NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese
2
1
Accommodation
NonAccomodation
LS/SWB for Older and Middle Aged NZ
Chinese and Europeans
0.3
0.1
NZ Europeans
NZ Chinese
-0.1
-0.3
Born in NZ
Born Abroad
Regression on LS/SWB for NZ Europeans
Independent Variables
Live in NZ/Abroad
Age (Positive Aging!)
Marital Status
Education
Hardships
Health
Communication
Accommodation w/Children
Non-Accommodation
Time for Children
Control of Timing
F(10, 520)=16.24, p<.001
Std Beta
Weights
-.01
.11**
-.01
-.01
-.17***
.37***
-.028
-.09*
-.02
.00
R2=.49
Regression on LS/SWB for NZ Chinese
Independent Variables
Live in NZ/Abroad
Age
Marital Status
Education
Hardships
Health
Accommodation w/Children
Non-Accommodation
Time for Children
Control of Timing
R squared F(10, 295)=12.8, p<.01
Std Beta Weights
.05
.05
-.04
.06
-.21***
.39***
.12*
-.05
.04
-.02
R2=.55
Discussion
• While health and hardship were by far the
strongest predictors of SWB, lending support for a
universal model, different experiences of
intergenerational communication affected SWB, in
different ways for NZ Chinese and Europeans,
even after controlling for many powerful variables.
• Chinese (other East Asians) treat interactions with
family as an obligation and a responsibility. Even
though they report more non-accommodation with
family members, this does not affect their SWB.
By contrast NZ Europeans reported less nonaccommodation, but this reduced their SWB.
• Room for cultural selfways in a universal model