PERSONALITY STRUCTURE OF YOUNG CHINESE ADULTS - A CONTRAST OF RESIDENTS IN TAIWAN AND RURAL AND URBAN CHINA

This investigation compares and contrasts the personality make-up of y oung Chinese adults in Taiwan, urban and rural China. Utilizing the Ca lifornia Psychological Inventory, we assessed their degree of internal ity, norm-abiding tendency, and self-actualization. Given the presence of greater Western influence, opportunities and tolerance for deviati on in Taiwan versus the PRC, and in urban versus rural China, it was h ypothesized that Taiwan respondents would show the greatest deviation from traditional Chinese traits (ie. score most externally-oriented, l east norm-abiding and most actualized), followed by urban Chinese, wit h rural Chinese remaining the most traditional. We found the three gro ups to differ in the expected direction on norm-abiding tendency, refl ective of differential exposure to and tolerance for deviation from pr evailing norms in the three settings. The Taiwan sample scored more ac tualized than the PRC samples, reflective of the presence of greater o pportunities in Taiwan. The three groups did not differ on internality , but all showed increasing externality, approximating the level repor ted by young European American adults.