Changing context for child-rearing: A narrative inquiry on generational shifts in parenting

Abstract

Although the importance of historical perspective in understanding a phenomenon has been well-recognized, attempt to study generational shifts in parenting is meager and is almost non-existent in Hong Kong. This qualitative study explores changing context for child-rearing over the past decades and examines how contextual factors and dominant social and professional discourses shaped the “ecology of parenthood” and child-rearing. Employing qualitative study method of narrative inquiry, 120 in-depth interviews with 60 parents (30 mothers and 30 fathers) had been conducted. Five generational cohorts – parents in the 70s’ the 80s’ the 90s’, the 2000s’ and the 2010s' parents shared their experience in being parents and their parenting practices. Narrative accounts of parent profile how parenting in Hong Kong has changed over the last half century, uncover generational shifts in parental ideology and parenting practice, and reveal how contextual factors and discursive formations shape the “ecology of parenthood” and child-rearing. Based on the finding, the paper draws implications for child policy formulation and proposes direction for child and parenting services.