W. Wang et Ll. Viney, A CROSS-CULTURAL-COMPARISON OF ERIKSONIAN PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT - CHINESE AND AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN, School psychology international, 17(1), 1996, pp. 33-48
An exploratory cross-cultural comparison investigation of psychosocial
development in school-age children was conducted in the People's Repu
blic of China and Australia. Erikson's epigenetic model has been teste
d with year 1 to year 12 children from a Chinese sample (n=360) and an
Australian sample (n=150). Each research participant took part in an
open-ended interview. The Content Analysis Scales of Psychosocial Matu
rity (CASPM) have been applied to the resulting verbalizations and the
scales scores were analysed by country factor. A general pattern of s
imilarity between the two samples was evident; no differences were fou
nd in their overall CASPM scores. However, the individual scale scores
showed that the Australian sample scored higher on Affinity and Const
raint while the Chinese sample scored higher on Trust, Identity, Gener
ativity, Integrity, and at the same time higher on Inferiority, Identi
ty Diffusion, Stagnation and Despair. Different combinations of these
scores and their implications have been examined within Erikson's mode
l, in the context of the societal and cultural differences between the
two samples. Some methodological implications and limitations of this
study also have been discussed.