Understanding relationships within cultural contexts: Developing an early childhood sibling relationship questionnaire in China

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Yan Z. Wang,Yan Li,Tian‐tian Liu,Jin‐juan Zhao,You‐jia Li,Xiao‐bing Niu
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12586

RESEARCH

Understanding relationships within cultural contexts:

Developing an early childhood sibling relationship

questionnaire in China

Yan Z. Wang

1

|Yan Li

2

|Tian-tian Liu

2

|Jin-juan Zhao

2

|

You-jia Li

2

|Xiao-bing Niu

3

1

Endicott College, Beverly,

Massachusetts, USA

2

Shanghai Normal University,

Shanghai, China

3

Zhengzhou Preschool Education College,

Zhengzhou, China

Correspondence

Yan Li, College of Education, Shanghai

Normal University, Yanhe Road, Shanghai

200234, China.

Email: liyan@shnu.edu.cn

Funding information

Humanity and Social Science, Planning

Foundation in China; Jacobs Foundation,

Grant/Award Number: Young Scholar

Research Grant

Abstract

Objective: Combining the cultural-comparative approach

and the indigenous approach, the current studies aimed to

develop a questionnaire for measuring sibling relationship

qualities in early childhood for Chinese children.

Background: In China, the number of families with more

than one child is growing, calling for more research on sib-

ling interactions in the context of contemporary Chinese

culture.

Method: To ensure cultural validity in this study,

40 Chinese mothers of young children were interviewed to

generate specific behavioral manifestations of dimensions

related to the conceptual structure of sibling relationships

found in well-established theoretical and empirical work in

the literature (i.e., including the dimensions of warmth, con-

flict, and rivalry). These behaviors were then aggregated

and developed into 22 Likert-scale items for the Chinese

questionnaire. The new questionnaire was administered to

324 parents for exploratory factor analyses, 540 parents for

confirmatory factor analyses, and 50 parents to estimate

test–retest reliability.

Results: Comparing the 22 items with items developed in

similar U.S.-based questionnaires, we found that Chinese

parents emphasized qian rang (courteous compromising

among siblings) while paying little attention to respect of

personal space and emotional sharing among siblings.

Validity and reliability checks yielded supportive results

for this new questionnaire.

Conclusions: Findings regarding the different items reflected

the emphasis on interdependence and restrained emotional

Received: 7 January 2020Revised: 29 September 2020Accepted: 15 January 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12586

© 2021 National Council on Family Relations.

220 Family Relations. 2022;71:220–237.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

display in Chinese culture. The new questionnaire can be

used as a culturally sensitive measure of sibling relationships

in China.

KEYWORDS

China & United States, cultural contexts, questionnaire development,

sibling relationships

INTRODUCTION

Children’s interactions with siblings are usually lifelong, nonelective, frequent, and often

intense. Sibling relationships have been a widely researched topic in Western cultures. Siblings

provide a unique platform for children to seek companionship, social understanding, and rela-

tionship skills (Cicirelli, 1994; Feinberg et al., 2012). Positive sibling relationships support indi-

viduals’social, cognitive, and physical development, starting from childhood and lasting

throughout the lifespan (Dunn, 1983; Whiteman et al., 2011). When sibling relationships are

not positive, however, serious damage and enduring scars can result. Many parents have con-

sidered sibling interactions to be one of the most challenging aspects of parenting (Kramer &

Baron, 1995; Yu & Gamble, 2008).

In China, however, sibling research has been ignored for multiple decades. The topic may

have seemed less relevant when the majority of families involved only one child after the “one-

child”policy was implemented in China in the 1970s (Feng et al., 2014). The recent adoption of

the two-child policy in China in late 2016 represented a major change in social policy that influ-

ences individual families’structures and dynamics. With this change in policy, the number of

families with more than one child is growing in China (National Bureau of Statistics of

China, 2018). However, current sibling-focused research in China is still limited in quantity,

with existing work related to economic perspectives, focusing mainly on gender and household

resource relocations (e.g., Lei et al., 2017). It thus becomes imperative to investigate the quality

of sibling relationships within contemporary Chinese culture, especially because the majority of

the current parent generation grew up as only children themselves.

Historically, siblings have been considered a critical part of individuals’lives in China

because of the Confucian values on family duty and solidarity (Dos Santos, 2006). Ethno-

graphic reports and Chinese classic literature have presented abundant examples of the Chinese

ritual of “sworn brotherhood”where friends take an oath to become “blood brothers,”thus

symbolically upgrading their friendship to the level of commitment, responsibility, and close-

ness of sibling relationships (Jordan, 2003). In Chinese, siblings are generally called shou zu

(手足), with the literal meaning being hand and foot relationships, indicating the prominence of

siblings’role as a natural and essential part of your own body, tied with you through blood.

Different siblings are referred to as xiong di jie mei (兄弟姐妹) in Chinese, which means older

brother, younger brother, older sister, and younger sister (Kroeber, 1933). Specific terms were

created to capture both the gender and the birth sequence of siblings, with males preceding

females, and earlier born siblings preceding later born siblings (Wu, 1927). Because language

functions as a vehicle that carries meanings and beliefs, the precision and richness of the

Chinese terminology around siblings demonstrates the central value placed on these relation-

ships, as well as the hierarchical structure that grants older siblings and male siblings greater

power and responsibilities within families.

However, siblings with Chinese background—and even more generally, Asian

backgrounds—have been understudied by family scholars (Yee et al., 2007). Beals and

Eason (1993) collected anthropological evidence in South Asia showing the central role of

sibling relationships, as well as stronger expectations for older siblings to be caregivers, role

AN EARLY CHILDHOOD SIBLING RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONNAIRE

IN CHINA

221