Abstract
The globalised rise in late marriage and divorce rates is to some extent a reflection of life choices and attitudes towards marriage. China is a densely populated country, and after the one-child policy, most families have a pyramidal structure; in 2021, the Chinese government officially enacted the three-child policy, with the aim of stimulating and encouraging people to have more children. However, with the rapid development of the economy and modernisation, there are dynamic changes of individuals’ consideration. The target group for this study is the parents born around 1975, and their children, the millennials born after 1995. Seven pairs of families were recruited through snowball sampling. The study used a qualitative approach, with volunteers first completing a demographic questionnaire; semi-structured interviews allowed participants to explore and consider in depth, and asynchronous interviews compensated for the fact that some participants were unable to have simultaneous one-to-one online. The researcher forms four themes: the importance of marriage, love and cruelty in marriage, opposite sex kinship and mate choice, and women in marriage. The analysis concluded that there are similarities and contradictions in intergenerational perceptions of marriage, as well as differences between family units. Inheritance is in the identification of marital behaviour and family pressures, and differences revolve around the two generations' motivation for marriage and attitudes to non-mainstream marriage trends. However, parental influence on children is also externalised into acting styles such as reinforcement, correction, and avoidance of marriage due to the unique patterns of the individual internalised system.
Author Information
Jingxi Zheng, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
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