An Analysis of the Differences of Parenting in Chinese and Americans from the Perspective of Long-term versus Short-term Orientation

张皓佳

（首都师范大学 外国语学院，北京100089）

Abstract：Parents play significant roles in children's whole life education, parenting works as the process of raising children and providing them with protection and care in order to ensure their healthy development into adulthood. There are different views on parenting between people of dissimilar cultural backgrounds. This paper examines the differences of parenting between Chinese and Americans by referring to Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory. In particular, the dimension of long-term and short-term orientation is used to compare differences in expectation towards children's achievement and expectation of reward from children.

Keywords：Family education; Hofstede cultural dimension; Long-term and short-term orientation

一、lntroduction

Family education is the earliest education children receive, parents are considered to be the most important teacher of their life, in this way children are to a great extent taught and shaped by their parents. However, under the context of a global village, various parenting ways are presented and distinctive features which is closely related to their cultural background are shown. Therefore, it’s helpful to understand the differences in cultural views on parenting.

As for Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory (1991)which is influenced and modified by culture, he initially proposed four dimensions: power distance,uncertainty avoidance, individualism and collectivism,masculinity and femininity, then he added a fifth dimension:long-term orientation and short-term orientation. He states that long-term orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented toward future rewards, in particular, perseverance and thrift. Its opposite pole, short-term orientation,stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular respect for tradition,preservation of ‘face’ and fulfilling social obligations(Hofstede,1991).Long-term oriented cultures focuses on endurance, persistence,perseverance,long-term growth. Short-term oriented cultures emphasize expectation for quick results, respect for traditions, and social spending. Thereby, it’s a professional framework serving scholars to analyze cultural diversity among different countries.

An approach of understanding views on parenting in different cultures is to study their cultural values as believed by parents, it is of great significance to choose China related with Confucian philosophy and America rooted in individualism to dig out differences about parenting through long-term and short-term orientation.

二、Differences on Parenting in Chinese and Americans from the Perspective of Long-term versus Short-term Orientation

1.The difference in expectation towards children's achievement.

In China, Chinese parents are careful about their children’s future achievement. There are some proverbs which are“望子成龙，望女成凤，学有所成，出人头地”,“If one studies hard, then wealth, high-paying jobs, and beautiful women will all come his way”. It means that parents hope their children have a bright future whether they are happy or not now, thus most children are arranged with assorted tasks in every certain age to prepare for the future. It can be concluded that Chinese parents tend to believe in the faith of children’s sustained efforts toward slow results.

On the contrary, there isn’t a general benchmark to evaluate success in American. American parents are comfortable with beliefs like “work hard play hard,only work no play makes jack a dull boy, the balance between work and life”so as to their children can foster interests than simply pursuing marks. It can be noted that American parents attach great importance to children’s progress at present.

Under the long-term oriented culture championed by perseverance and long-term benefits, Chinese parents tend to make preparations for the coming future, so continuous tasks and efforts are worked as a good preparation for children's future performance,meanwhile, children are taught to not enjoy immediate gratification of desires in the pursuit of goals.Alternatively, under the guidance of short-term orientation virtues directed at the present and expectation for quick results, people care much about the present development, so children’s free development and self-assertion should be encouraged.

2.The difference in the expectation of reward from children.

In China, child-rearing works as an exchange for the responsibility of their grown-up children to take care of them after they grow old, for example,“养儿防老，养老敬贤, 父母在，不远游，游必有方”, “bringing up children to provide for one's late years”, which means that parenting is deemed by many Chinese parents as a preparation for a better realization of filial piety in the future.

Conversely, American parents regard child-rearing as a personal responsibility for society they should undertake at present. They don’t require their adolescent children to take fully care of them and they hold that living with children is a source of trouble. Therefore, it is common to see that they go to special eldercare centers after they turn old.

As for Chinese orientation toward children is moralistic rather than psychological (Ekblad, 1986),filial piety is one of the typical Confucian concepts,parents take responsibility for child's development,so they are inclined to have the goal of raising their young children into warm-hearted showing respect for their old parents, children should try to satisfy parents and show reverence for elders in all circumstances as well. While in cultures of short-term orientation, although reward from children is also treasured by them, they readily undertake short-term parenting duty for they cherish the present.

三、Conclusion

As a whole, Chinese views on parenting reflect a culture with a long-term orientation. Conversely,Americans’concept of parenting shows a culture with a short-term orientation. Understanding differences between cultures enables people to escape the unconscious bond of their culture which biases their perceptions and reaction to the world. The ultimate goal intends to help minimize cross-cultural misunderstanding and ameliorate cross-cultural communication, so people will communicate more appropriately and peacefully.