‘With my parents I can tell them anything’: intimacy levels within British Chinese families

Abstract

Intimacy within relationships and the parent–child bond in particular is said to provide feelings of acceptance, warmth, sensitivity and an appreciation of self and can impact positively upon health and well-being of individuals. Views of intimacy can differ across cultures however, and may not be universally shared or understood. Accordingly, societies will have differing perspectives on how intimacy should be displayed between parents and children. For contemporary Chinese households living in Britain, we do not have an understanding of how residency in the UK may impact upon traditional Chinese values in terms of parent–child intimacy levels. Through a qualitative study with a set of 12 diverse Chinese families living in Britain, using repeat interviews over a nine-month period, Chinese parents and children were asked to reflect on past and present childhood experiences to uncover the ways in which intimacy is displayed and promoted within the parent–child dyad.