British Chinese Children

Method

The exploration of contemporary British Chinese childhoods was based on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded doctoral study undertaken with 12 British Chinese families. The sample size was kept small to acquire an in-depth and rich account of Chinese individual’s lives and experiences. By using a small sample, more meaningful relationships and data collection could also be collected (Taylor, 1999). Seven families were invited to take part in the study through Chinese organizations, such as Chinese language supplementary schools and community groups. The other 5 families were snowballed from the initially recruited sample. All 12 Chinese families were from the North of England.

In each family, 1 parent and 1 child were interviewed separately either at home or within Chinese community centers. By using a one-to-one interviewing technique, the researcher was able to engage and adapt the interview process in accordance with the respondent’s requirements and comfort. In 2008, each parent and child participated in 3 repeat interviews over a 9-month period, resulting in 72 interviews in total. Each interview was conducted 2 to 3 months apart and was based upon the study’s three research interests, which were (1) parenting approaches, (2) parent-child intimacy levels and (3) children’s agency. The interview script regarding children’s agency looked specifically at parent’s and children’s perspectives on adolescence, children growing up, and children’s transition to secondary school as well as parenting approaches.

Repeat qualitative interviewing was used as it allows participants to tell their stories on their own terms and in their own words. One-off interviews have been criticized for creating a limited “snapshot” of data collection. Whereas, a series of interviews are better suited in capturing participant’s thoughts and reflections (Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). Contact over time is also necessary in research for children and adults, so that participants can relax enough with the researcher to reveal their beliefs, feelings, and concerns (Hill, 2006). In turn, repeat interviews allow the interviewees to get to know the researcher better. As such, more of a reciprocal relationship can be formed between the researcher and respondent. The establishment of trust and reciprocity was hoped to elicit higher levels of disclosures from the interviewees and the production of authentic accounts. The success of qualitative research is highly dependent upon the formation and maintenance of personal relationships with the interviewees, as well as establishing feelings of trust and rapport. Arguably, such a relationship would have been hard to create from a one-off interview. The process of returning to participants also allowed member checking of the results (Rizzo, Corsaro, & Bates, 1992). The use of 3 repetitive interviews with British Chinese families does not appear to have been used within previous research, where one-off interviews and questionnaire surveys have been predominantly used.

Eight of the 12 families can be classified as a nuclear household. The sample also had one blended household; a female lone parent family and an “astronaut” family (see Waters, 2005). Parents were from different countries of origin, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, and had varied lengths of U.K. residency, education levels, and careers. Nine mothers and 3 fathers between their late 30s and 60s participated in the study.

Children in the sample were aged between 11 and 14 years old. Children of this age group were chosen due to their current and shared life experiences of the onset and early stages of adolescence and secondary schooling. Both adolescence and the movement to secondary school have been suggested to be a time of change and reflection for young people and their parents. Such factors were thought to have a possible impact or influence upon children’s agency. Four boys and 8 girls participated in the study.

It was paramount that British Chinese children themselves were involved in expressing their views. This reflects the belief that children are important in generating knowledge and recognizes the child’s rights of expression (United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, [UNCRC], 1989). Parallel to the participation rights promulgated by the UNCRC (1989) are the writings from the New Sociology of Childhood, which views children as actors and agents (Greene & Hill, 2006). The New Sociology of Childhood starts from a broadly social constructionist premise and is related to the epistemological position of interpretivism. Interpretivism is an approach that emphasizes the subjective meaning of social action. Accordingly, the interpretative position is concerned with drawing out the rich and unique experiences of individuals and how their social worlds are interpreted, understood, and produced. Qualitative research is seen as complementary to the interpretative tradition, as methods are suggested to help describe and illuminate the participant’s social world (Elwood & Martin, 2000).

The researcher personally transcribed the interview accounts, as it allowed for a deeper level of familiarity and intimacy with the data sets for the analysis process. Meaningful data from the transcripts were organized by themes, and further subcategories, according to the research questions and links to pre-existing theories and research. The job of indexing, or slicing the data set, was done manually with the aid of “Microsoft Office.” The combination of personally transcribing the interview accounts with the manual procedure of indexing, allowed a more thorough examination of what the interviewees had said and permitted repeated examinations of their accounts. A conceptual map was subsequently developed on paper to interpret the data, where relevant interview verbatim was assigned to emerging themes. Analysis from the conceptual map then fed into the next stages of investigation for the following interview waves. The maintenance of a research diary was a method of logging research developments, research activities, and general reflections. Such considerations also aided the design of subsequent interview guidelines. By documenting the data, the researcher’s perspective, and the decision-making process throughout the research, it allowed auditability and external reliability of the investigation (Sandelowski, 1986; Shek, Tang, & Han, 2005).

Together, the transcripts, thematic coding, and conceptual map enabled a repetitive interplay between theory, data collection, and analysis to be completed in an iterative manner, also known as an abductive process. Within an abductive strategy, theory is constructed by firstly describing the activities and meanings by groups and individuals, followed by the formulation of categories and concepts to understand or explain the problem at hand (Blaikie, 2000). The emerging data categories and theories in this research were therefore seen as “thick descriptions,” where there was interpretive focus on the meaning and intentions of the interviewee’s behaviors. The alternating process of moving between everyday concepts and meanings, lay accounts, and social science explanations means that theory is therefore generated as an intimate part of the research process (Blaikie, 2000).

Discussion

By the time adolescence approaches, Western research has shown that there are many more opportunities for children to demonstrate their agency especially as changes within the parent-child dyad continue. Parental supervision is likely to become more indirect and less intrusive during this time. Differing levels of child competence and maturity helps shape the form and frequency of parental supervisory behavior (Parke et al., 2003). From middle childhood onwards, children begin to exercise moment-to-moment self-regulation and many parents allow their children more responsibility. Parents start to adopt a more general supervisory role as opposed to immediate control over aspects of their children’s lives (Maccoby, 1984). British Chinese children themselves had recognized such parental changes since becoming an adolescent.

My parents, they’ve started to treat me differently, more grown up, different to how they treat my younger sister. Like, they let me be more conscious of my own money, but they still regulate it. But it’s just the way they act, it’s hard to describe. (Ben, 14 years old)

Specifically, Maccoby (1984) proposed that the transition from parental regulation of the child’s behavior to the child’s self-regulation involves a three-phase developmental process, (1) parental regulation, (2) coregulation and (3) self-regulation. During the coregulation period, parents retain general supervisory control but expect children to exercise increasingly extensive responsibilities for moment-to-moment self-regulation (which helps lay the groundwork for greater agency, autonomy, and independence in adolescence and young adulthood; Maccoby, 1984). However, this process is a bilateral one. Parents must stay informed of their children’s daily activities, and in turn, children should inform parents of their whereabouts, activities, and problems so that parents can mediate and guide them when necessary (Collins & Madsen, 2003). Indeed, those children who were allowed more freedoms compared to other British Chinese participants in the sample, had to keep their parents well informed. This included parental knowledge of the child’s whereabouts, which friends they were going out with, agreed times to return home, and certain forms of communication when the child was out. Trust between parents and a child was also a key issue in allowing children to go out and in the conditions set.

My mum’s rules are quite general really, like no drinking or smoking which is reasonable. Just stick to them and there’ll be no problems because she knows she can trust me. But don’t cross them or she’ll get angry and cross! (Grace, 14 years old)

One child complained that their mother was too excessive in her conditions when she was out with friends.

I have to ring my parents a lot when I’m out and they [friends] don’t. I say my parents are over-protective and annoying and my parents say its protective and caring and stuff . . . If I went to town or something, when I got on the bus I would ring my mum when I got to town, I’d ring her and when I’m coming back home, just before I got on the bus I’d ring her, something like that, tell her where I am and stuff. [Interviewer: How does it feel having to be on the phone?] Sometimes it’s OK, if its just “I’m coming home now,” but saying when I’m in town now blah, blah, blah I don’t think that is necessary. I think saying that I am coming home now is OK but everything else, saying where I am and what I am doing, I don’t like other people pestering me and stuff. (Sophie, 14 years old)

The lack of the child’s social life (including where children were allowed to go, when, and with who) was a regularly occurring theme within the research. Feelings of dissatisfaction by British Chinese children were magnified by the fact that children had entered adolescence and their perception that the teenage years were meant to be a time of fun and independence.

It just gets boring. I haven’t been playing out since I was ten and I’m getting sick of it. . . At times you just want to do something that you don’t want your parents to know, or you just want to hang around with your friends and talk about stuff that you don’t want your parents to hear and stuff like that. (Olivia, 12 years old)

Olivia also commented that her parents adherence to Chinese cultural norms were restrictive factors upon her freedoms.

My parents are traditionally Chinese [strict] and it just gets annoying because they treat me like a Chinese person, but we are living in England! You’re not living in a Chinese country; you are living in England so do what all the other [English] parents do, just let me play out or something. (Olivia, 12 years old)

Such parental behaviors may be due to the Chinese cultural expectation that parents are to ensure a safe environment for children whilst protecting them from exposure to bad examples (Wu, 1985). In order to “protect” children, Chinese parents often encourage their children to stay physically close to and be dependent on them, as well as restricting children’s activities to the home (Ho, 1986). As Olivia’s mother suggested,

I’m scared she will learn to be naughty [if allowed out] . . . I think most Chinese people are like that. She’s still young, maybe when she grows up a bit and has her own thinking I will let her go out. (Abigail, late 30s, Chinese mother)

Other children commented that their parents had racist attitudes toward Western people, which affected their socialization opportunities. Charlotte was particularly upset by her mother’s negative viewpoints of her Western peers.

My mum thinks they are a bit of a bad influence because they are gweilows [racist term for White people]. [Interviewer: What do you say in reply?] I just say, just because they are gweilows it doesn’t mean they are all nasty . . . She worries about me going out with gweilows but I don’t like thinking that because I’m surrounded by them! (Charlotte, 14 years old)

Interestingly aside form parental restrictions, children had their own reasons for not socializing outside of the household, such as homework completion and feelings of fear from negative news reports, such as knife crime and youth gang culture.

My friend’s have more free time than me. I’m always busy, I have loads of homework going on and I just do it till I finish. Because I get caught up with my homework, I don’t have much time to see my friends. (Casey, 12 years old)

I get a bit worried about getting attacked when I’m out, because on the news there are always people stabbing and shooting other people. Sometimes I stop myself from going out to places because I am worried about getting hurt. (Ken, 11 years old)

Similarly, Wayne (13 years old) had recently stopped traveling on the bus by himself, due to intimidating youths in the local area.

I used to go on the bus quite often, but now I don’t want to because when you walk there, there are loads of people, like loads of older kids in the area and they keep messing around, kicking the walls and climbing them and I don’t want to walk into them. So I get my mum and dad to pick me up and we just drive past them.

British Chinese parents raised similar concerns about youth violence, which also affected children’s socializing opportunities.

Conflicts

As children’s developmental concerns with autonomy tend to peak in early and middle adolescence, it often results in an increase in conflicts with parents over the everyday details of family life (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998). With differing ages, the topics of conflicts change, however, across the span of adolescence, issues are generally related to routine, commonplace activities such as chores and academic matters (Cummings & Schermerhorn, 2003).

With regard to chores, the area of housework is often used as an opportunity to develop children’s responsibilities for themselves and in relation to others, while encouraging a sense of social responsibility to their family (Bowes, San, Chen, & Yuan, 2004). Some British Chinese parents who had taken on familial responsibilities as children, such as housework, child care (of younger siblings), helping the family business, and paid work, also attempted to encourage their children’s autonomy and independence in the same ways now. Parents felt that such opportunities were productive not only for their child’s home life but also for the competitive society in which they now lived. For those British Chinese children who helped out, many enjoyed the maturity and the sense of responsibility it gave them, which added to their sense of agency. In demonstrating their capabilities in housework tasks, British Chinese parents were also happier to grant children more freedoms. As Morrow (2003) suggested, by contributing toward housework, children are not only taking on significant responsibilities and in some cases providing support for parents but also reciprocity is achieved within the processes and practices of everyday life.

I think it’s my responsibility to do these things around the house. My parents see me doing all these things and they appreciate it, and they think I’m more capable. (Ling, 12 years old)

Parents who differentiated the roles and responsibilities of children and adults, based on their preconceived (Western and Eastern) notions of what children should and should not do, granted less agency to their children in general. As Adam (12 years old) commented, “They [parents] just see me as a kid, who can’t do this, can’t do that. But I could, I know I could, but they just never give me the chance.” As suggested within the New Sociology of Childhood, adult’s constructions of childhood will impact upon the opportunities and capabilities afforded to children themselves. By perceiving children as vulnerable, naïve, and dependent upon adults, some parents not only limited children’s independence and autonomy within the home but outside of it also. Negative childhood constructions can therefore impact upon children’s agency within different domains and relationships (Prout & James, 2003).

Apart from the mundane, other areas of possible conflicts for adolescents with parents include socializing opportunities as well as peer and friendship groups. Parents are often managers, organizers, facilitators, and gatekeepers of their children’s social lives, in their choices of schools, neighborhoods, and formal and informal activities in which their children can participate (Parke et al., 2003). Parents can also promote, discourage, and monitor their children’s peer relationships and activities. One parent in the sample, Ava (mid-40s), actively encouraged her daughter’s friendship with other Chinese children, reasoning that they would understand her daughter more than her English school friends as well as helping her daughter’s sense of identity. However it was ultimately up to Carly if she wanted to initiate or continue the friendships with the other children her mother had introduced. Overall, Carly was appreciative of her mother’s incentives and actions.

I’ve met more Chinese friends, I see them every week and we have the same backgrounds. They know where you come from and what sort of background you have and we talk about things we can’t talk about with English people. (Carly, 13 years old).

Children can clearly play an active role as shapers and negotiators of their own social lives, with many decisions influenced by their needs, wishes, and decisions. Children can also resist formal social activities that are arranged by parents, as demonstrated by Carly’s behaviors.

The examples of resistance and conflict between British Chinese parents and children have been noted within parent-child interactions in other cultures (Fuligni, 1998). Such commonality highlights the levels of agency that British Chinese children have in their day-to-day lives, which is in accordance to other young people’s lives.

I am a typical teenager but more mature. I don’t think I am rebellious as I have never rebelled against my parents or anything, but I can! Like, if I want something I will fight for it! (Sophie, 14 years old)

Secondary Schooling

The transition to high school had made a noticeable difference upon British Chinese children’s behavior and maturity levels. The children themselves suggested that the move to secondary schooling had had an impact and influence upon their development.

At primary school you have the same teacher and you get used to them. But with high school you have the opportunity to make new friends and meet new people. You have to be more independent, look after yourself, get to lessons on time and try not to get into detentions. (Ling, 12 years old)

Older British Chinese children in the later school years (14-15 year olds) also suggested that becoming older and feeling more mature influenced their agency and the autonomy granted to them by parents.

I think I am becoming more mature and responsible. I’ve been in high school a few years now and I’ve changed a lot, so my mum can let me get on with things without hassling me. (Lucie, 14 years old)

Allowing children to make decisions on their own shows parents’ recognition of children as individuals rather than their possessions, Xia and colleagues (2005) suggested. However, some British Chinese children complained that their parents still treated them like “babies” and were too controlling in their lives, despite the recognition of children’s growing maturity levels.

My mum thinks I’m really babyish but I’m not. She treats me like a baby and keeps doing things for me. Its like, I’m fourteen, I have the ability and capability to do it. Like telling me to do my homework, yes I know I need to do my homework! (Grace, 14 years old)

This was frustrating for British Chinese children who felt mature and responsible, especially with regard to schoolwork and resisting peer pressure to smoke, take drugs, and drink alcohol. Parental perceptions of the child being irresponsible and immature had created children’s ill feelings toward their parents.

My parents still say to me “you’re still a kid” and whatever, but I feel that I am mature for my age, especially compared to other people. . . So when my parents say that I’m still a kid, I get really angry and say I’m not, I’m grown up! (Sophie, 14 years old)

Generally though, children in the study credited their parents as being good or fair parents. Children also understood the importance of being guided and monitored by parents, as they were not fully mature yet. Guidelines by parents were seen as necessary in protecting them. As one child suggested,

If parents let children do whatever they want, they would have a lot of freedoms when they are young. But in a bad way they might, at a very young age, have contact with drugs and smoking and bad things. (Ling, 12 years old)

Other studies have also suggested that adolescents agree that parents should retain authority and the right to exert discipline over moral issues and, to a lesser extent, conventional issues (Smetana & Asquith, 1994). But being too strict was seen to interfere with the child’s maturing process and the opportunity for self-discovery. British Chinese children saw the increase of responsibilities as vital preparation for adulthood.

Since you’re growing up you need more space to be by yourself and to do things by yourself and to experience things. . . You need to learn things by yourself, to see what you can and cannot achieve. But if parents are there, they’d be telling you what to do. (Casey, 12 years old)

Parental Monitoring

When parents exercise autocratic power, it would seem natural that children’s agency is constrained, especially as parents are perceived to have expertise over their children, be goal-directed (toward the socialization of their child) and have greater coercive potential (Kuczynski, 2003). However, despite power differences between parents and children, parent-child relationships are seldom as hierarchical as they might seem. For instance, research by Grusec and Goodnow (1994) has found that children have the ability to influence their own socialization by influencing parental monitoring. With regard to parental monitoring, some British Chinese children were actively “being good” in trying to convince their parents to watch over them less. “Being good” meant acting responsibly by not breaking curfews and being considerate and respectful toward parents.

My parents know that I listen to them. So if they set me a curfew or a time to come back, I will come back at that time. I will tell them where I am going, like if it’s the city centre, shopping or something. I think that way, its natural that you gain trust from your parents and they let you grow up a bit more. (Ben 14 years old)

Some British Chinese children behaved maturely in other ways to gain agency, autonomy, and independence from parents. Examples included getting on with homework and housework without parental requests, using pocket money wisely, and reassuring parents that education was the priority while growing up.

I think my mum just trusts me, that’s why she lets me out. Like in school and assessments, I’m quite in control of it, so she probably trusts me from that. (Grace, 14 years old)

Several British Chinese children tried to make their parents feel sympathetic toward them, if they thought that parents were being too restrictive. With regard to increasing socializing opportunities, some children would drop hints that their friends had stopped asking them to join-in on activities or that they were at risk of having no friends at all.

Sometimes I mention to them [parents], that if I’m never allowed out my friends will stop asking me to join in, or they’ll forget about me. (Olivia, 12 years old)

There were also negotiations with parents over socializing opportunities. Alexandra and Sophie (both 14) attempted to increase their socializing time by suggesting that it was important for young people’s self-esteem and independence skills.

During your teens, it is the time to socialize and stuff and you learn a lot of skills that you use as an adult. I tell my mum that it’s the time [adolescence] when confidence is a really important thing. When you’re a teenager it’s the time to get this confidence, so when you are an adult it’ll be easier, as you’ll already have the confidence from being a teenager. (Sophie, 14 years old)

The different methods that children exemplified their agency in relation to their school and social lives, is in accordance with James and Prout’s suggestion (2003), that the ways in which children learn about appropriate strategies or forms of agency are dependent upon the child’s skills and abilities.

In securing children’s compliance or cooperation with parental agendas, parents often use requests, commands, prohibitions, threats, and punishment to influence children’s behavior (Eisenberg, 1992). However, some British Chinese parents actively encouraged their children to be communicative and expressive with their opinions in order to develop their child’s questioning and discussion skills. Such attributes were seen as important traits to have in a competitive world of education and work. As such, parents both expected and accepted their child’s refusal of parental commands to a certain degree.

When you raise and encourage your children to question things, you expect some things to become part of their personality, like their criticalness, their attitudes, their questions and their outlook on life. (Edmund, mid-50s, Chinese father)

Certainly some children in the sample attempted to use their own coercive strategies to evade or sidetrack their parent’s ability to enforce compliance. Some would be facially or verbally expressive in their dislike of their parent’s disciplining choices, in the hope that it would make them change their minds. Alexandra (14 years old) suggested, “Sometimes if I think the punishments are unfair, I tell them, like shout it out.” Some would “mope around the house” and give parents “the evil eye” in trying to make parents feel guilty for punishing them.

If my mum tries to ground me or tells me that I can’t go out, I’ll just give her the “evils,” or I’ll just shut myself in my room until she feels guilty! (Charlotte, 14 years old)

A select few would try to intimidate their parents into avoiding future confrontations. Grace and Charlotte (both 14) had threatened their parents with leaving home as soon as they turned 16 (the accepted legal age of leaving home), due to their perceived levels of household strictness. This appeared to be quite an effective strategy, as their mothers were worried about their child flying the nest too soon, which made them reluctant to be overly constraining and forceful upon their child.

Negotiations by British Chinese children were also a side product from parental encouragement of children’s reasoning and questioning abilities. Within this sample, 14-year-old Sophie was often involved with negotiations with her parents regarding the places she was allowed to go out to. Successful negotiations were dependent on her abilities to be persuasive as well as her parent’s general feelings at the times. As Sophie remarked, “sometimes it’s easy, it just depends. Sometimes you have to go on their mood and you just have to use the right words.” Being patient and persistent was another factor in her persuasion tactics.

Changes in British Chinese Parents

In addition to children exercising agency within the family, children can alter their parent’s behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes (Palkovitz, 2002). For example, children can profoundly affect the lives of parents in terms of promoting the parents’ maturity (Kuczynski, 2003), providing years of training opportunities for parents (Frankel, 1991), and stimulating adults’ openness to new learning and coping strategies (Newman & Newman, 1988). Indeed British Chinese parents suggested that their attitudes and child-rearing methods had modified and altered as a result of their children’s personalities, changing maturity levels, and the parent-child relationship itself. As Ava (mid-40s, Chinese mother) commented, “If my daughter changes I will have to change with her.” However, the level of influence that children played upon British Chinese parent’s personal development was viewed as unintentional on the child’s part and the majority of children felt that they had little or no influence upon their parent’s behaviors or belief systems. As Adam (12 years old) suggested, “they [parents] don’t listen to me, they just tell me off and what to do.” One explanation for parent’s lack of recognition of their children’s agentic (intentional) influence may be as a result of the socially constructed nature of the parent-child relationship. Children are often construed to be the passive recipients of adult power and their dependent status has been legitimized within popular discourses. The children’s comments were also in accordance to such dominant childhood ideology.

No one really takes you seriously until you are eighteen. Like the government election, you can’t vote till you’re eighteen. No one takes you seriously in life unless you are really talented or a really special, gifted child, otherwise they [adults] just ignore you. (Charlotte, 14 years old)

Acknowledging and recognizing the influence of children stands in contrast to common sense notions and cultural discourses (Kuczynski, 2003). Consequently, parents and children may not be fully appreciative of the level of influence that British Chinese adolescents have.

As well as personal changes within parents, children can provide parents with opportunities for community participation. British Chinese children who are cultural brokers for their immigrant parents are one example. Often as a result of children learning the language and becoming more linguistically competent in the language of the host society than their parents, children often translate for parents, and the child becomes very involved in the worries and concerns of the family, such as hassles with landlords, arranging for medical care, and dealing with the legal system (Olsen & Chen, 1988).

My mum always asks me to translate things for her, especially if my older sister is out. . . It’s really difficult sometimes, especially when I don’t even know what I’m translating about [Interviewer: Like what?] Like banks and stuff to do with hospitals. (Adam, 12 years old)

In being cultural brokers, traditional intergenerational authority relationships change within the household. One child commented that it was embarrassing that his parents needed his assistance.

Sometimes they [both parents] get embarrassing, because their English isn’t that good and sometimes I get embarrassed, so I would like them to improve in their English. At times I feel upset, because my mum has the capability of doing it, but she hasn’t learnt English at all. (Ken, 11 years old)

Despite helping and in some cases teaching their parents about the new culture or language, children still have to demonstrate deference to their parents, which research suggests can create a form of role strain, leading to possible anxiety and lowering children’s general well-being (Parke et al., 2003). On the other hand, child cultural brokers tend to develop an insight and sensitivity toward their parents and the affective bond between parent and child is likely to be strengthened (Parke et al., 2003). As Casey (12 years old) suggested, “I like to help my mum, it’s nice that I can help her.” The role of children as cultural brokers also demonstrates the agency that children may have and their importance within the household.

Summary and Concluding Discussion

Based on the accounts of 12 British Chinese adolescents, this study used qualitative repeat interviewing methods to demonstrate how British Chinese young people have varying degrees of agency in their lives. Agency was demonstrated through young people’s socializing times, friendship groups, and negotiations and conflicts with parents. As children grow older, their abilities and levels of agency (granted by parents and pushed for by children) generally increased, with adolescence representing the main period for agentic opportunities. Many parents in this sample also acknowledged, and were happy to encourage, their child’s agency within reason. British Chinese parents believed that the encouragement of their child’s agency would help adolescents become more independent. Some parents also promoted their child’s agency as it was seen to develop discussion and debating skills, which were essential traits for a modern and competitive Britain.

By uncovering the perspectives of contemporary British Chinese parents and adolescents, contradictions to the existing literature regarding child agency has appeared. Although culture did influence parenting approaches and young people’s agency to a certain degree, this cannot fully explain the lack of adolescent’s agency. This research has shown that the relationship of the parent-child dyad must also be considered. Furthermore agency of the adolescent was reliant upon personal views of the parent and child, the quality of the parent-child relationship, and the impact of external circumstances upon the household. Goh and Kuczynski’s study (2009) in China similarly highlighted the importance of macro and micro factors when considering the role and influence of Chinese children since the one-child policy. The authors used social relational theory to highlight the cultural and social context in which Chinese family lives are lived, experienced, and negotiated (Goh & Kuczynski, 2009), while acknowledging reciprocity between parents and children (Maccoby, 2003).

Demonstrating British Chinese adolescent’s influential role as agents also compliments the perspective of the New Sociology of Childhood, where young people are viewed as social actors. In support of the New Sociology of Childhood, childhood constructions by British Chinese parents and adolescents can impact positively and negatively upon children’s agency levels. As the voices of British Chinese adolescents have had a low profile in Britain, this research has contributed to the limited research available and provided a platform to air British Chinese children’s perspectives. This is not only important on a theoretical level but also helps to raise the profile of U.K. Chinese children more generally. However, it is recognized that there were several limitations to this study. Firstly, the research was on a small scale due to its qualitative nature. Qualitative research itself has been criticized on the grounds of its generality and transparency (see Bryman, 2004). Additionally, the researchers’ interpretations of trends in behavior may to be particularly subjective, varying according to philosophical stance, time, and location as well as the particular subgroups involved (Taylor, 1999). It was therefore essential that the researcher reflected upon factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, status, and age in order to “listen beyond.” Listening beyond is to retain a critical awareness of what is being said and to be ready to explore issues in a greater depth (Mason, 2002). This was especially important as the researcher was of a similar background to the researched and, as Parker (1995) argued, this does not automatically secure more extended accounts. Francis and Archer (2005) argued that the notion of “matching” the researcher and respondent’s gender, ethnicity, or other variables could also evoke a problematic perception of a fixed and two-dimensional identity. However, by sharing related experiences and common understandings with the respondents, it was hoped that it would promote and encourage the interviewees to open-up and to provide richer and fuller accounts. Fay (1996) suggested such thinking is part of the “you have to be one to know one” positioning. The premise is that those who have insider status or positioning are in a privileged position in understanding a particular group, which can lead to the joint creation of knowledge through shared experiences (Heath, Brooks, Cleaver, & Ireland, 2009). When the researcher understands and identifies with the interviewee’s situation, the better the data is likely to be (Gabb, 2008).

The adult researchers’ knowledge of the cultural milieu and social capital of those whom they intend to research can be invaluable and far more useful than any formal interview technique. (Gabb, 2008, p. 21)

The need to “understand beyond” was also necessary, where researchers should be aware of how social and cultural factors, which both parties bring, can affect the research encounter (Allan & Skinner, 1991). By recognizing that researchers are crucial participants in the research process, and through the process of reflexivity as critical thinking, researchers can begin to address their own assumptions and understand how personal feelings and experiences may influence a study. The use of a reflective diary was particularly helpful for such purposes.

Qualitative research has also been criticized in terms of reliability. However, by using repeat interviews it allowed interviewees to reflect upon and clarify the researcher’s analysis over a period of time. Such a method also permitted families to extend upon their comments in their subsequent interviews (member checking). Regular meetings with university supervisors and various opportunities to present preliminary findings at seminar events permitted peer checking of the results and enabled further reflections by the researcher. Peer checking and member checking is a useful criterion for judging qualitative studies argued Shek et al. (2005).

Although it is recognized that this research was on a small scale and that there are limitations inherent within the study itself, in a context of a multicultural and rapidly changing Britain, it is no longer acceptable that British Chinese adolescents remain a muted group in society. By speaking to young British Chinese people, this article helps to provide an insight into one of the many dimensions of British Chinese adolescence. It is also hoped that the findings not only raises awareness and understanding of British Chinese households but also contributes toward the necessary future studies to come.