A comparison of US and Chinese university students' cognitive development:The cross-cultural applicability of Perry's theory

The cross-cultural generalizability of William Ferry's (1970) theory of int ellectual and ethical development was examined via the Zhang Cognitive Deve lopment Inventory (ZCDI; L. E Zhang, 1995, which is based on Ferry's theory ), with 3 samples of college students, 1 from the United States and 2 from the People's Republic of China. The ZCDI was shown to be reliable and valid for all 3 samples. The results indicated that the Chinese college students ' cognitive-developmental pattern differed from that proposed by Ferry, but the U.S. students' pattern did not. Possible reasons for the different cog nitive-developmental pattern of the Chinese students are presented, leading to the conclusion that Ferry's scheme is not universal. Instead, students' cognitive-developmental patterns seem to vary as a function of different c ultural and education systems. The implications of these results are discus sed in relation to student affairs practice.