Intergenerationality : the making and consequences of parental intervention in children’s marriage in China

The mosaic family theory posits that Chinese families are a combination of the tradition of parental control and the neoliberal rhetoric of individualism. This theory is also used to explain the low speed of marriage modernization in China. However, how to empirically examine this “mosaic” is ambiguous. This dissertation research uses parental intervention in children’s marriage as a case of “mosaic” to unravel how the intergenerational axis and the conjugal axis interact in mate selection. Employing the mixed-method approach, this dissertation research finds three levels of intergenerationality involved in the making and consequences of parental intervention in children’s marriage in China. First, filial piety culture is found to be strongly associated with the marital practice of parental intervention. This association suggests the intergenerational nature of parental intervention and the cognitive (cultural) level of intergenerationality. Second, older parents and young adults hold different understandings of parental intervention and negotiate it in mate selection. Intergenerational disagreement and negotiation reflect the behavioral level of intergenerationality because the two generations interact to embody filial piety obligation in the marriage market. Third, parental intervention is estimated to increase intergenerational solidarity in terms of parental support provision, whereas it undermines conjugal happiness. These marital impacts are also found to be greater in urban areas and more recent cohorts where parental intervention is less practiced. These findings echo the marital level of intergenerationality that the intergenerational axis trumps the conjugal axis when the marriage is traditionally formed. The three levels of intergenerationality together demonstrate that intergenerational relationship is a key lens to understanding mosaic families in contemporary China. Chinese families are sustained in the changing dynamic between tradition and modernity.