Parents' Goals for Children: The Dynamic Coexistence of Individualism and Collectivism in Cultures and Individuals

TLDR

Current scholarship on individualism and collectivism has moved beyond binary theories to emphasize variation within individuals and cultures regarding autonomy and relatedness goals. The authors propose a theoretical model of the dynamic coexistence between macro‑level cultural values and micro‑level parental developmental goals, arguing that these values and goals can be conflicting, additive, or functionally dependent. The model suggests that parents may view autonomy and relatedness as interfering, endorse both, or see one as a pathway to the other, and that these coexistence patterns shift across situations, developmental stages, and social, political, and economic contexts.

Abstract

Abstract Current scholarship on the cultural value systems of individualism and collectivism, and the associated developmental goals of autonomy and relatedness, has moved beyond grand divide theories to emphasize variation within individuals and cultures. We present a theoretical model on the dynamic coexistence of cultural value systems (at the macro level) and parents' developmental goals (at the micro level). We contend that cultural values and developmental goals that have largely been classified as polar opposites may be viewed as conflicting, additive, or functionally dependent. Parents may view the developmental goal of autonomy as interfering with the goal of relatedness (and vice versa); parents may endorse both autonomy and relatedness; and parents may consider the developmental goal of relatedness to be a path to the goal of autonomy and/or autonomy to be a path to relatedness. These forms of coexistence are themselves dynamic, changing across situations, developmental time, and in response to social, political, and economic contexts.