Chinese emerging adults in a quick-changing world: Discretionary time activities, cultural orientations, and the meanings of leisure.

摘要

The overarching aim of this qualitative research was to understand the experiences of college students in China, with focus on discretionary time activities, perceived changes in cultural orientations and leisure meanings. Because data collection was in progress partly during the 2003 SARS medical epidemic in China, when restrictions were imposed on students, this research also includes an examination of the impact of SARS on students' discretionary time choices. This research is reported in three separate articles that address three unique sets of research questions, but all data come from time diaries and in-depth interviews of a sample of 16 college students in Xi'an, China, in 2003.;The focus of the first article is how people make choices about activity engagement during discretionary time. In this study an inventory of discretionary time activities and reasons for choosing these activities was documented for a sample of Chinese college students. Because of the occurrence of an unanticipated SARS epidemic, the impact of the SARS crisis on students' daily choices was also examined in detail. Findings revealed that, despite the constraints imposed by SARS, particularly the suspension of off-campus activities, some students did not perceive a change in daily life, while others perceived positive changes in attitudes and behavior. Findings are important not only because they shed light on the experiences of college students in China, but also because decisions made during this very influential time of life may affect future choices related to discretionary time.;The second article focuses on the extent to which Chinese college students perceived globalization impacts on their cultural orientations, or cultural identity. A majority of participants thought that the cultural identity of college students in China today is a mixture of some traditional Chinese attitudes and beliefs and some Western attitudes and beliefs. These students believed that the primary sources of traditional orientations are family, community, school, books, and the media, whereas the primary sources of Western characteristics are media, books, peers, school and society. Students reported that they find the mixture of traditional and western cultural orientations is good, or at least acceptable. The competition/cooperation spectrum, one major aspect of citizenship roles, was explored specifically. Competition was believed to be extremely important by these Chinese college students, while cooperation, although also believed important, was observed less in behaviors. Participants identified many contextual factors that encourage competition in the lives of college students in China and identified fewer opportunities to cultivate cooperation. Findings suggest that emerging adults in China, and possibly in other non-Western countries, are susceptible to developing bi-cultural, or multicultural, identities as a consequence of globalization-caused increase in exposure to other cultures, and that this shift will likely be evident in changing citizenship roles, leaning increasingly towards individualism and away from collectivism.;The focus of the third article is an investigation of how Chinese college students view the role of leisure in their lives. This article explores gender differences in leisure preferences and the self-reported likelihood of persistence of college leisure activities into later stages of life. Women were found more likely than men to orient their leisure toward relationships with others. In contrast, men were more likely than women to report participating in physical activities, structured organizational activities, and playing cards and chess. Men also seemed to show more interest than women in starting new leisure activities or improving skills related to leisure activities. The majority of men in this study perceived that it was unlikely to continue their current college leisure activities after graduation, while the majority of women believed their current college leisure activities would persist into later stages of life. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)