Time use during adolescence in the United States and China

Study 1 examined children’s time with family and friends over early adolescence in the United States and China with the intertwined aims of elucidating (1) differences between the two countries in the normative trends in children’s time use and (2) variations within the two countries in these trends due to the quality of children’s relationships with parents and friends. Beginning with the entry into middle school, 3 times over 12 months, 934 children (mean age = 12.7 years) in the United States and China reported on how much time they spent with family and friends, including time on academics with friends; they also reported on the quality of their relationships with parents and friends. Consistent with differences in cultural-specific developmental goals during early adolescence (i.e., individuation versus family obligation), latent growth curve models indicated that American children spent fewer hours with family and more hours with friends than did Chinese children. When Chinese children did spend time with friends, they spent more of it on academics than did American children. In both countries, cross-lagged panel models indicated that the better the quality of children’s relationships with parents, the more time they spent with family six months later which predicted enhanced relationships with parents over time. It was also the case that the better the quality of children’s relationships with friends, the more time they spent with friends, particularly on academics, six months later, with time on academics predicting enhanced relationships with friends over time in both countries and with parents in China. Taken together, these findings suggest that both cultural and interpersonal forces may have contributed to American and Chinese children’s time use. Study 2 examined the role of children’s time use in their emotional, social, academic, and behavioral adjustment during early adolescence in the United States and China. Beginning with the entry into middle school, 3 times over 12 months, 934 children (mean age = 12.7 years) in the United States and China reported how much time they spent with family and friends, including time on academics with friends; they also reported on their emotional, social, academic, and behavioral adjustment, as well as the quality of their relationships with parents and friends. In cross lag panel models adjusting for the quality of children’s relationships, children’s time with family generally did not predict their adjustment over time in either country. Over and above friendship quality, children’s time with friends predicted heightened perceptions of social competence as well as dampened achievement and heightened behavioral problems over time in both countries. These effects were either non-existent or reversed when children spent more time with friends on academics. As a whole, the findings indicate general similarity in the effects of children’s time use in the United States and China, with time with parents having almost no effects and time with friends developing children’s confidence in their social competencies but putting them at risk when it comes to academic and behavioral adjustment, unless their time with friends is spent on academics.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Xiong, Yu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pomerantz, Eva M
• Cohen, Dov
• Rudolph, Karen D
• Tan, Kevin
• Larson, Reed W

• Time Use
• Culture
• Adolescent Development

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Yu Xiong

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122103

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F122103