Is the Chinese self‐construal in transition?

Abstract

The present article investigates the Chinese peoples’ interdependent and independent self‐construals, including how these self‐construals are influenced by socio‐demographic factors such as age, gender, and rural‐urban residence. A modified version of Singelis’ (1994) self construal scale was administered to 237 Chinese respondents’ in an urban and a rural area of Shandong Province, China, and qualitative data (focus group and in‐depth interviews) were collected to enrich the quantitative findings. Our results suggest that the Chinese self‐construal varies across age, gender, and urban‐rural residence, and is also influenced by the changing political, economic, and socio‐cultural context in China. The theoretical and practical implications for the field of intercultural communication are outlined in the discussion section.