A new look at the old "little emperor": Developmental changes in the personality of only children in China

In order to study the perception of Chinese parents of their children, audi o-taped free descriptions of children's personality characteristics were ob tained from 401 Chinese parents living in Beijing and Fuzhou. The free desc riptions by parents showed that, as children's age increased, different cat egories of descriptors were typically used. Only for children at ages 3-5 d id negative descriptors associated with the so-called "little emperor" ster eotype prevail in parents' free descriptions. On the other hand, the propor tion of negative descriptors in the Conscientiousness category increased wi th children's age. This was an indication of the persisting importance give n by Chinese parents to characteristics associated with school performance, effort, and diligence. The results showed that there were no signs of a sp oiling attitude in Chinese parents. The high proportions of negative descri ptions given by Chinese parents should be interpreted as an expression of g reat concern for the future of their children, rather than as a sign of hos tility towards their children.