Cost and Family Obligation in Everyday Sacrifice to Parents Among European American and Chinese Emerging Adults

Abstract

Cultural studies on sacrifices made by emerging adults have given limited attention to the cost involved. We addressed this issue in studies among U.S. and Chinese emerging adults. Assessing real-life instances of sacrifice, Study 1 (N = 130) showed that Chinese sacrifice for their parents in a higher cost way than do European Americans. In a vignette-based experiment, Study 2 (N = 254) demonstrated that family obligation motivates high-cost sacrifice among Chinese emerging adults but not among European American emerging adults. The findings underscore the importance in cultural research of recognizing the distinctive impact of cultural and immigration effects, while highlighting methodological limitations associated with the use of scale measures.