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Dating attitudes and behaviors of American and Chinese college students
Dating Attitudes and Behaviors of American and Chinese College Students SHENGMING TANG* Western Illinois University JIPING ZUO St. Cloud State University
This study of dating attitudes and behaviors compares the college students from a mid-Western State University in the United States and their counterparts from a Chinese University in Shanghai. Survey results indicate that the American and Chinese college students differ on a series of dating attitude and behavior variables. American college students generally entertain a liberal attitude towards dating, tend to date young, date more frequently, and are more likely to develop sexual relationship. Their Chinese counterparts, on the other hand, hold less permissive view towards dating, tend to start dating at a much later age, and are less likely to have sex with their dates. These discrepancies are discussed in the light of McCabe’s theory of dating as well as the different cultural orientations and values of the American and Chinese societies.
The importance of dating research cannot be overemphasized. Erikson (1968) described human life as a cycle containing eight developmental stages: infancy, toddler, early childhood, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and maturity. Dating constitutes an important activity in at least two of these developmental stages: adolescence and young adulthood. For adolescents and young adults, dating plays very important functions. Dating is seen as recreation or an opportunity to have fun (McDaniel, 1969), as a means of status grading (Skipper and Nass, 1966), as a means of socialization leading to personal and social
*Direct all correspondence to: Shengming Tang, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois, 61455. Telephone: (309) 298-1463. E-mail: [email protected]. The Social Science Journal, Volume 37, Number 1, pages 67–78. Copyright © 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 0362-3319.
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growth, as an opportunity for companionship with members of the opposite sex (Erikson, 1968), and as a means of mate sorting and selection (McDaniel, 1969). However, although the literature on dating is abundant in the Western society, our understanding of dating in the other parts of the world, particularly that of the Far East area, is not as profound. Cross-cultural studies comparing dating practices in the Western and Eastern societies are even less, leaving a blank in the dating literature that requires urgent attention from social scientists. The present research purports to compare dating attitudes and behaviors of American college students and Chinese college students from the People’s Republic of China. The American and Chinese societies represent two different cultural orientations in many regards, dating culture being one of these aspects. Whereas dating is an established practice in the American society as a way of mate selection, it is still in the process of replacing arranged marriage in the Chinese society, especially in rural areas. Since Chinese college students are exposed to both Western and Eastern cultures, a comparison of American college students and their Chinese counterparts will not only reveal differences and similarities in dating attitude and behavior between two groups of youth, but will also exhibit the relative extent to which Western and Chinese cultures influence Chinese college students.
DATING IN WESTERN SOCIETIES Although the literature on dating attitude and behavior is large and abundant, definitions of attitude and behavior vary. Attitude, for instance, was often defined to be preferences for dating partner’s characteristics (Hansen, 1977; Roscoe et al., 1987), attitudes towards premarital sex (Roche and Rambsey, 1993), and attitudes towards date rape (Holcomb et al. 1991; Johnson et al., 1992; McLendon et al., 1994). Behaviors were frequently defined in sexual terms, such as petting, intercourse (Roche and Rambsey, 1993), date aggression (Stets, 1992), and date rape (Mills and Granoff, 1992). One recent study specifically related to the present research is Thornton’s exploration of the courtship process and adolescent sexuality (Thornton, 1990). Employing similar variables and measurements as the present study, Thornton examined relationships among dating, courtship, and sexuality in a random sample of birth cohorts from a Detroit metropolitan area. According to his sample, approximately 90% of male and 88% of females had first dating experience by the age of 16. Approximately 50% of males and 53% of females reported going steady with their dating partner at the age of 16. Three quarters of males and two thirds of females approved premarital sex. Sixty-three percent of males and 54% of females developed sexual relationship. However, only 27.1% of males and 37.9% of females planned to marry. Thornton discovered that those who had never had sexual intercourse demonstrated significantly less approval of premarital sex than those who had. Also, a steady dating relationship played a key role in the process leading to first intercourse. The probabilities of experiencing first sexual intercourse increased dramatically as the respondents entered a steady dating relationship. The association between dating stages and sex relationship is also reported in some other studies. Using a college student sample, Roche and Rambsey (1993) broke dating
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process into five stages and related them to the students’ concept of proper dating behaviors and reported dating behaviors, ranging from light petting, heavy petting, to intercourse. The results suggest that a higher percentage of students reported intercourse as dating moved from stage 1 through stage 5. The percentage of adolescents who have developed sex relationship, however, varies from sample to sample. In a nonrandom sample of 1,228 adolescents attending parochial schools in the eastern United States, 12.4% of the 12–13 age group, 13.9% of the 14 age group, 34.8% of the 15–16 age group, and 61.1% of the 17–18 age group had sexual intercourse with their dates. Around 55% of students were going steady when they first had sex. Overall, literature on dating attitudes and behaviors in 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s seemed to be consistent in reporting a growing permissiveness in premarital sexual attitudes, common occurrence of sex behaviors among daters, and a relationship between dating stage and intercourse (Bell and Chaskes, 1970; Ferrel et al., 1977; King et al., 1977; Mahoney, 1978; Glenn and Weaver, 1979; DeLamater and MacCorquodale, 1979; Bell and Coughey, 1980; Earle and Perricone, 1986).
DATING IN CHINESE SOCIETY The literature on dating and mate selection in China is small. Dating is often studied as a prelude to marriage and as a means by which mate selection is fulfilled. A survey published in 1988, for instance, examined different ways by which a marital partner was selected in China. Of the 4,874 married women surveyed, 40% of them had their marriages arranged. Approximately 36% met their spouses by formal or informal introductions by friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Only 24% got married through casual meetings in schools, work-units, or leisure activities (Liu, 1988). However, the percentage of arranged marriages and free-choice marriages depends on the cohorts the respondents belonged to, as was suggested by a study of marriage cohorts in Chengdu. For the 178 women who married between 1933–1957, 43% got married through arranged marriage, 26% by formal or informal introduction, and 31% by respondents’ free choice. This was in sharp contrast with the 1958 –1976 and the 1977–1987 marriage cohorts, which had approximately 41% of respondents getting married through formal or informal introduction, and 58% by free choice. Only less than 2% of marriages were arranged. The results clearly suggest a significant transformation from arranged marriages towards free-choice marriages as well as an increasing autonomy by young people over their mate selection decision (Xu, 1994). Although the existing literature is consistent in suggesting an increasing popularity of dating in China (Bullough and Ruan, 1994; Liu, 1988; Whyte, 1990; Xu and Whyte, 1990; Xu, 1994), very little is known about the dating attitudes and behaviors of Chinese youth. The sporadic research in this field does not agree. One survey conducted by Shanghai Sexual Sociology Research Center reported that 86% of their respondents approved of premarital sex. It further estimated that approximately 30% of China’s youth actually engaged in premarital sex (Burton, 1990). Another survey conducted in Anhui province, however, reported that 98% of 500 men wanted their brides to be virgins at their weddings. This belief was supported by 94% of the 300 women questioned at the same
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time (Ji, 1990). Obviously, no conclusion of any kind can be reached regarding Chinese youth’s dating attitudes and behaviors based on the existing literature.
SAMPLE The present study employs two samples (N ⫽ 378). The American sample (N ⫽ 188) came from two general education classes and two upper-division sociology courses in a mid-Western State University. Data were collected by handing out questionnaires during class time. Married students were instructed not to fill out the questionnaire. Students who happened to enroll in two or more of these courses were also told not to submit repeatedly. The assurance of anonymity was both written on the questionnaire and provided verbally before the questionnaire distribution. A total of 188 students completed questionnaires. Approximately 29.3% were freshmen, 20.2% sophomores, 26.6% juniors, and 23.9% seniors. The male/female ratio was 43 to 57, and the average age of the respondents was 20.12. One hundred and twenty students were dating at the time of survey, of whom, 103 had developed sex relationship. The Chinese sample (N ⫽ 190) was collected from a University in Shanghai under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The questionnaire was identical to that used for the American sample. The authors translated the questionnaire into Chinese and distributed them among four general education classes. Despite the assurance of anonymity, four Chinese students seemed to have misgivings revealing their dating attitudes and behaviors. Their responses were not included in the sample because a large number of questions were left unanswered. Of the 190 valid responses, 16.8% were freshmen, 34.2% sophomores, 31.6% juniors, and 17.4% seniors. The male/female ratio was similar to that of their American counterparts at approximately 44 to 56, and the average ages were also similar at 20.92. The percentage of daters, however, was much lower than that for the American sample. Only 61 students were dating, of whom 37 had developed sexual relationships.
MEASUREMENT The questionnaire mainly consisted of two parts: dating attitudes and dating behaviors. The questions about dating attitudes were presented as statements. The response categories used Likert scale format, ranging from “strongly agree,” “agree,” “undecided,” “disagree,” to “strongly disagree.” Altogether, 13 statements about dating attitudes were included in the questionnaire. Five statements tap the respondents’ concerns about similarities between their dates and themselves. They are: “I would like to date somebody similar to my age,” “I would like to date somebody with similar educational background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same racial and ethnic background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same religious background,” and “I would like to date somebody with similar social class background.” Two statements are about the coverage of dating expenses: “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should pay the dating expenses,” and “The boy and girl should split the dating expenses.” Another two statements address the purpose of dating: “The major purpose of dating is to find a marital partner,” and “I would like to date people without
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making a commitment.” Respondents’ attitudes towards sex are also explored by two statements: “It is all right for me to have sex with my date if I intend to marry him/her,” and “It is all right for me to have sex with my date even if I have no intention to marry him/her.” Two other statements deal with who should initiate date, and when to start dating. They are: “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should initiate dates,” and “One should not start dating until 16 or older.” Questions about dating behaviors were designed for those who had dating experiences. These questions asked the respondent’s age at first dating (DATEAGE), how frequently the respondent saw the present date (DATEFREQ), how long the respondent had been dating the present date (DTLENGTH), how many persons the respondent was dating at the present time (DTNUMBER), how the respondent would describe his/her relationship with the present date (DTSTAGE), who usually paid dating expenses (DATECOST), and whether the respondent had a sexual relationship with the date (SEXYN). While the variables about age at dating and number of dates were continuous, frequency, length and stage of dating were measured at ordinal level. The variable about dating frequency had six values, ranging from “dating once a month,” “once every other week,” “once a week,” “2–3 times a week,” “4 –5 times a week,” to “6 –7 times a week.” The variable about dating length had seven values: “less than one month,” “less than three months,” “less than six months,” “less than one year,” “1–2 years,” “3– 4 years,” and “5 years and more.” Dating stage was defined to be “casual dating,” “going steady,” or “engaged.” The variables about the dating cost and sex relationship had straightforward response categories. The former had three values: “myself,” “my date,” and “we split,” while the latter was simply dichotomous. To identify underlying constructs for the attitude variables in the questionnaire, a confirmatory factor analysis, using a maximum likelihood extraction and a varimax rotation, was conducted. The factor analysis yielded four factors in all. The first factor included three statements: “I would like to date somebody with the same racial and ethnic background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same religious background,” and “I would like to date somebody with similar social class background.” Since these statements formed important dimensions of “homogamy,” the first factor was labeled “HOMODATE.” The second factor contained four statements: “One should not start dating until 16 or older,” “I would like to date people without making a commitment,” “It is all right for me to have sex with my date if I intend to marry him/her,” and “It is all right for me to have sex with my date even if I have no intention to marry him/her.” Because responses to these statements indicated whether a respondent was liberal or conservative in dating attitude, this factor was named “LIBCON.” The third factor grouped three statements. “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should initiate dates,” “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should pay the dating expenses,” and “The boy and girl should split the dating expenses.” This factor was called “EXPECT” because these statements largely tapped the respondents’ expectations in dating behavior (Table 1). Although similarities in education and age were also considered aspects of “homogamy,” the factor analysis failed to group them with race, religion, and social class variables. In accordance with the conceptual dimensions of “homogamy,” this study named the fourth factor, composed of 2 statements on education and age, as “HOMODATE2.” All factors retained had factor loadings greater than 0.30. They accounted for a total of 41% of variance in dating attitude.
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Table 1. Factor Analysis on Attitude Variables SAMERACE SAMERELG SAMECLAS SEXOKQ1 SEXOKQ2 DATEBF16 COMMITQ DTCOSTQ1 DTCOSTQ2 INITIATQ SAMEEDUC SAMEAGE
Factor 1 0.8225 0.7112 0.4363
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
0.5430 0.7500 0.5125 0.4701 1.0116 0.3613 0.4603 ⫺0.9876 ⫺0.3469
RESULTS The t test on dating attitude included the four factors plus a variable on dating purpose left out by the factor analysis. The results indicated that the American and Chinese samples differed greatly in dating attitude. Except for the factor on similarity in education and age, statistically significant differences exist for all other three factors and the dating purpose variable. The most significant difference is for the factor tapping appropriate dating age, commitment, and sexual relationship (T ⫽ 14.67 for LIBCON), with the American college students on the liberal side and the Chinese students the conservative side. This factor is followed by the dating purpose variable in magnitude of statistical significance. Whereas 42% of the Chinese college students agree or strongly agree that the major purpose of dating is to find a marital partner, only 14% of the American students share this view. The American college students’ expectations in outing are also nontraditional: boys are not necessarily the one to initiate a date and to cover the dating cost. Nevertheless, the American college students are less liberal than their Chinese counterparts in one aspect: they have placed more emphasis on homodating (see Table 2). Discrepancies in some dating behavior variables are also manifest. One hundred and twenty out of 188 American college students are presently dating, compared to 61 out of 190 for the Chinese college students. Average age to start first dating is wide apart: 14.69 for the American and 18 for the Chinese. In fact, the difference in dating age has the highest statistical significance of all dating behavior variables. The American students date more frequently than their Chinese counterparts, and tend to describe their dating relationship as “steady.” For the American students, dating is almost synonymous to having sex: approximately 86% of daters have developed sexual relationships. In comparison, around 62% of Chinese daters admitted to having had sex. No significant differences in dating length, number of dates, and dating expense coverage are observed. Because most of the daters in the two samples have developed sexual relationships, sex emerges as a major dimension of dating behaviors. For both the American and Chinese samples, no significant differences are observed in the attitude variables when the group having sexual relationships is compared with the group that has not (results not shown in the tables). Differences, however, seem to exist on a few behavior variables. For the American sample, the sex group has a median of 5.00 for length of dating, placing their
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Table 2. t Test of Dating Attitudes and Behaviors American Variable HOMODATE LIBCON EXPECT HOMODAT2 PURPOSE DATEYN DATEAGE DATEFREQ DTLENGTH DTSTAGE DTNUMBER DATECOST SEXYN
Mean 2.48 2.46 2.53 2.11 3.96 1.36 14.69 4.42 3.94 1.92 1.22 1.75 1.14
Chinese SD 0.92 0.65 0.88 0.74 0.95 0.48 1.57 1.73 1.76 0.60 0.64 0.96 0.35
Mean 2.70 3.55 2.78 2.11 3.12 1.68 18.00 3.95 4.08 1.73 1.35 1.73 1.38
SD 0.88 0.79 0.78 0.79 1.21 0.47 1.67 1.05 1.50 0.61 0.92 0.93 0.49
Sig. of T 2.37** 14.67** 2.92** 0.00 ⫺7.50** 6.55** 12.86** ⫺2.27* 0.56 ⫺1.99* 0.99 ⫺0.14 3.41**
*p ⬍0.05. **p ⬍0.01.
dating history to “1–2 years.” In comparison, the nonsex group has a median of only 2.00, denoting that they have been dating for “less than three months.” Dating stage also varies dependent on the group. The median value for the sex group is “going steady,” while that for the nonsex group is “casual dating.” In terms of number of dates, the sex group is dating 1.13 persons on average, compared to the nonsex group at 1.71. The Chinese sample demonstrates a similar pattern. The sex group has a median dating history of “1–2 years,” while the nonsex group “less than 6 months.” For dating stage, the difference is between “going steady” and “casual dating.” While numbers of dates do not show significant differences between the two groups, median date frequency has increased from “once a week” for the nonsex group to “2–3 times a week” for the sex group. A logistic regression with sex relationship as the dependent variable shows that three variables are linearly related to the propensity of having sex in the American sample. Consistent with Thornton’s study, liberal attitude towards dating emerges as a major predictor of sex relationship. A respondent scoring high on liberal attitude is much more likely to develop sex relationship than someone scoring low. Also consistent with Thornton’s study, dating stage is related to the odds of having sex in the sense that the more advanced dating stage a respondent places himself/herself in, the higher is the log odds of developing sex relationship. However, number of dates is reversely related to the dependent variable in that dating more than one person at a time decreases the probability of developing sex relationship. In the Chinese sample, only one variable, the length of dating, is significantly related to the odds of having sex. The direction is that the longer the dating relationship, the more likely the sex relationship will take place (see Table 3). Although some previous literature suggests the existence of gender differences in dating attitude and behavior (Hansen, 1977; Roscoe et al., 1987; Roche and Ramsbey, 1993), the present study fails to discover such differences on most attitude and behavior variables. The sole major difference is found with numbers of dates, with females having significantly less dating partners than males. The American sample and Chinese sample display similar patterns here (table not shown).
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Table 3. Logit Models on Sexual Relationship Variables HOMODATE LIBCON EXPECT HOMODAT2 PURPOSE DATEAGE DATEFREQ DTLENGTH DTSTAGE DTNUMBER DATECOST DATECOST (1) DATECOST (2) CONSTANT N 2 LOG L
American .1175 2.6158** 0.5984 ⫺0.5825 0.3184 0.5029 0.0154 ⫺0.4070 ⫺2.0222* 1.6781** ⫺0.1794 1.0060 ⫺11.3650 120 97.92
Chinese 3.8024 0.7327 ⫺1.4897 ⫺1.2643 2.7065 ⫺1.4554 ⫺1.9383 ⫺1.9580* ⫺2.0385 ⫺0.9023 0.7344 1.3560 21.9800 61 81.67
*p ⬍ 0.05. **p ⬍ 0.01.
DISCUSSION Overall, the discrepancies between the American and Chinese college students in dating attitude and behavior prevail over the similarities between these two groups. The American college students are on the liberal side in dating attitude. They are more liberalminded regarding date initiation, date cost, commitment, and development of sex relationship. The majority of them have had dating experiences already. They tend to date young and date more frequently. They are more likely to describe their relationship as “going steady,” and more likely to develop a sexual relationship with their dates. Their liberal dating attitude, their identification of dating stage, and numbers of their dates, are good predictors of their likelihood of developing a sexual relationship. In comparison, the Chinese college students are less liberal-minded in attitude. They date later, date less frequently, and are less likely to develop a sexual relationship. For them, the objective length of dating, rather than the more subjective definition of dating stage, is a good predictor of their odds of having a sexual relationship. In fact, some differences between the American and Chinese students are larger than the descriptive statistics have indicated. Age at first date, for example, is a key variable in the study of dating behavior. The American mean for this variable is 14.68, in contrast with a Chinese mean of 18. Because dating age is only calculated for those who are presently dating, the proportion of daters in each sample becomes meaningful. In the American sample, age at first dating is decided based on the 65% of students who are currently dating, whereas in the Chinese sample, it is only based on 32% of Chinese daters. Considering that more than two thirds of the students in the Chinese sample are nondaters and that they have an average age of 20, the real difference in age at first dating between the American and Chinese samples should be wider than 14.68 and 18. The finding that the American college students are less liberal-minded than the Chinese college students in homodating should also be viewed with caution. This reversed
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difference in homodating largely stems from the Chinese students’ willingness to date people from other race and ethnic backgrounds. Because minorities in China are small in proportion (less than 5%) and are largely concentrated in the inland provinces in China, college students in Shanghai might never have had any chance to interact with minority people. They, however, have plenty of chances to interact with overseas professors and students on campus. When asked about their willingness to date somebody from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, they are likely to interpret it as dating a foreigner. In other words, the seemingly liberal answers might result from a difference in the interpretation of the question rather than from a true liberal attitude. Similarity exists between the American and Chinese samples in that the majority daters in both samples have developed sexual relationships. However, only approximately 20% of the total Chinese college students in the sample are having sex, whereas 55% of the American sample are having sex. Examined in this light, differences in dating behavior between the two samples still prevail over similarities. What factors, then, can account for such big differences between the two samples, especially that in age at first dating? McCabe’s theory of adolescent dating (1984) is able to throw some light on this issue. In McCabe’s view, an interplay among maturation, social influences, and opportunities can best explain dating practice. Maturation consists of two aspects, physiological and psychosocial changes. Although physiological changes result in a desire for sexual release, psychosocial changes result in a search for sexual identity. However, although all individuals undergo the same maturation changes, dating practices vary from one society to another. This brings into the picture another major force: social influences, which largely come from peer group, socialization during childhood, current social pressures outside the influence of family and peers, and religion. The importance placed by the individual on maturational and social influences, combined with the opportunity to express the resulting desires, constitute the three major forces. According to McCabe, opportunity is important because it explains the difference in the sexual experiences of urban and rural adolescents. Whereas physiological aspect of maturational process for the American adolescents and Chinese adolescents can be assumed to develop at a similar pace, social influences from peers and the wider society, as well as the personal meaning attributed to dating in the two societies are different from each other. In the United States, social pressures, from peers or from the wider society, are in favor of dating rather than against it. At American high schools, for instance, ability to have dates is an indicator of “popularity” (Williamson, 1977; McCabe, 1984). Dating is regarded as a means of personality development, a search for personal identity and individual worth, and a striving toward maturity. Such a favorable environment for dating among adolescents receives reinforcement from the wider society. Most adolescent daters at the age of 13 to 15 have approval from their parents (Spredbury, 1982), and no major social institutions are against adolescent dating. As a matter of fact, it is a valued American tradition that a girl should have a boy to accompany and dance with her at the prom. American students also have more opportunities that facilitate dating. Most of them have already had driver’s license. They have easy access to automobiles and have bedrooms of their own. Thus, the favorable social influences and better opportunities for dating served to encourage and accelerate adolescents’ psychosocial changes—a search for sexual identity.
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The situation in China is opposite in almost every aspect. Dating in high school, junior and senior alike, is considered deviant. High school teachers and counselors regard it their responsibility to convince their students that early dating in high school is detrimental to their psychological growth and intellectual development. High school daters are usually considered deviants needing special attention from their parents and teachers. Early dating is also frowned at by the whole society. Besides the school authority, the parent generation, whose average age at marriage was in the late twenties, also disapprove of any dating attempts at high school level (Murstein, 1980). Opportunities for dating are limited. Privately owned automobiles are still luxury and many adolescents do not have their own bedrooms. As a result, the pursuit of personal meaning and the search for sexual identity can only be attempted after one graduates from high school. Because social influences are inseparable from cultural norms and values, it is reasonable to suggest that different cultural orientations have played a role in shaping the observed differences in dating attitudes and behaviors. American culture tends to emphasize individual freedom and rights. Adolescents’ freedom and rights are commonly acknowledged and respected by their parents and various social institutions. As a result, adolescent dating receives less controls and supervision from parents and school. Reiss (1967) suggested that lessening supervision by family and community was one reason premarital standards of sexual behavior had been liberalized. The Chinese culture, on the other hand, has been highly suppressive of individual freedom and rights. This is especially true when freedom and rights concerned are related to human sexuality. Adolescents’ interest in the opposite sex is traditionally perceived as “premature love,” to be controlled until they have reached the socially appropriate age for courtship and marriage (Honig and Hershatter, 1988). Those who failed to conform to social norms were often punished by their parents or school authorities (Honig and Hershatter, 1988). Dating is instrumental in nature, a way by which a suitable marital partner can be found, and a prelude to marriage. Deviation from this cultural orientation is generally frowned at in the Chinese society. The discrepancies observed in dating attitude and behavior between the American and Chinese college students in this study, therefore, can be regarded as resulting from discrepancies in opportunities and cultural orientations at large. Because culture is responsible for the nurturing and shaping of society members’ attitudes and behaviors, it might be the most important factor to consider in the cross-cultural study of dating attitudes and behaviors. Given that the American and Chinese societies have different cultural orientations and values, and given that culture is the most important factor in the study of dating attitudes and behaviors, the fact that the discrepancies between the American and Chinese college students in dating attitudes and behaviors have prevailed over similarities takes on significance. The suggestion seems to be that in spite of the increasing influences from the Western culture, Chinese culture is still exerting dominant influences on the Chinese college students, at least in the aspect of dating attitude and behavior. Because Chinese college students are the groups that have most exposure to the Western culture and are at an age most willing to accept changes, the wide differences observed in this study seem to also indicate that dating attitudes and behaviors of ordinary Chinese people are not likely to experience rapid changes in the near future.
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Due to the difficulty in the collection of data in China (Murstein, 1980), this crosscultural study employs convenience samples. The results yielded by this study, therefore, suffer from the limitations in their inferential power. This study, however, has made an attempt in the cross-cultural comparison of dating attitude and behavior. Hopefully, it will help contributing to the building up of a literature on comparative study of dating, courtship, and marriage.
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Reiss, I. L. (1967). The Social Context of Premarital Permissiveness. New York: Rinehart and Winston. Roche, J. P. and T. W. Ramsbey. (1993). Premarital Sexuality: A Five-Year Follow-Up Study of Attitudes and Behavior by Dating Stage. Adolescence, 28: 67– 80. Roscoe, B., M. S. Diana, and R. H. Brooks. (1987). Early, Middle, and Late Adolescents’ Views on Dating and Factors Influencing Partner Selection. Adolescence, 22: 59 – 68. Skipper, J. K. and G. Nass. (1966). Dating Behavior: A Framework for Analysis and Illustration. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 28: 412– 420. Spreadbury, C. L.. (1982). First Date. Journal of Early Adolescence, 2: 83– 89. Stets, J. E. (1992). Interactive Processes in Dating Aggression: A National Study. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54: 165–177. Thornton, A. (1990). The Courtship Process and Adolescent Sexuality. Journal of Family Issues, 11: 239 –273. Whyte, M. K. (1990). Changes in Mate Choice in Chengdu, China. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting. Williamson, R. C. (1977). Dating Frequency, Ethnicity, and Adjustment in the High School: a Comparative Study. International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 7: 157–169. Xu, X. (1994). The Determinants and Consequences of the Transformation from Arranged Marriages to Free-Choice Marriages in Chengdu, the People’s Republic of China. In P. L. Lin, K. W. Mei, and H. C. Peng (Eds.), Marriage and The Family in Chinese Societies (pp. 249 –266). Indianapolis, IN: University of Indianapolis Press. Xu, X. and M. K. Whyte. (1990). Love Matches and Arranged Marriages: A Chinese Replication. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52: 709 –722.
This study of dating attitudes and behaviors compares the college students from a mid-Western State University in the United States and their counterparts from a Chinese University in Shanghai. Survey results indicate that the American and Chinese college students differ on a series of dating attitude and behavior variables. American college students generally entertain a liberal attitude towards dating, tend to date young, date more frequently, and are more likely to develop sexual relationship. Their Chinese counterparts, on the other hand, hold less permissive view towards dating, tend to start dating at a much later age, and are less likely to have sex with their dates. These discrepancies are discussed in the light of McCabe’s theory of dating as well as the different cultural orientations and values of the American and Chinese societies.
The importance of dating research cannot be overemphasized. Erikson (1968) described human life as a cycle containing eight developmental stages: infancy, toddler, early childhood, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and maturity. Dating constitutes an important activity in at least two of these developmental stages: adolescence and young adulthood. For adolescents and young adults, dating plays very important functions. Dating is seen as recreation or an opportunity to have fun (McDaniel, 1969), as a means of status grading (Skipper and Nass, 1966), as a means of socialization leading to personal and social
*Direct all correspondence to: Shengming Tang, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois, 61455. Telephone: (309) 298-1463. E-mail: [email protected]. The Social Science Journal, Volume 37, Number 1, pages 67–78. Copyright © 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 0362-3319.
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growth, as an opportunity for companionship with members of the opposite sex (Erikson, 1968), and as a means of mate sorting and selection (McDaniel, 1969). However, although the literature on dating is abundant in the Western society, our understanding of dating in the other parts of the world, particularly that of the Far East area, is not as profound. Cross-cultural studies comparing dating practices in the Western and Eastern societies are even less, leaving a blank in the dating literature that requires urgent attention from social scientists. The present research purports to compare dating attitudes and behaviors of American college students and Chinese college students from the People’s Republic of China. The American and Chinese societies represent two different cultural orientations in many regards, dating culture being one of these aspects. Whereas dating is an established practice in the American society as a way of mate selection, it is still in the process of replacing arranged marriage in the Chinese society, especially in rural areas. Since Chinese college students are exposed to both Western and Eastern cultures, a comparison of American college students and their Chinese counterparts will not only reveal differences and similarities in dating attitude and behavior between two groups of youth, but will also exhibit the relative extent to which Western and Chinese cultures influence Chinese college students.
DATING IN WESTERN SOCIETIES Although the literature on dating attitude and behavior is large and abundant, definitions of attitude and behavior vary. Attitude, for instance, was often defined to be preferences for dating partner’s characteristics (Hansen, 1977; Roscoe et al., 1987), attitudes towards premarital sex (Roche and Rambsey, 1993), and attitudes towards date rape (Holcomb et al. 1991; Johnson et al., 1992; McLendon et al., 1994). Behaviors were frequently defined in sexual terms, such as petting, intercourse (Roche and Rambsey, 1993), date aggression (Stets, 1992), and date rape (Mills and Granoff, 1992). One recent study specifically related to the present research is Thornton’s exploration of the courtship process and adolescent sexuality (Thornton, 1990). Employing similar variables and measurements as the present study, Thornton examined relationships among dating, courtship, and sexuality in a random sample of birth cohorts from a Detroit metropolitan area. According to his sample, approximately 90% of male and 88% of females had first dating experience by the age of 16. Approximately 50% of males and 53% of females reported going steady with their dating partner at the age of 16. Three quarters of males and two thirds of females approved premarital sex. Sixty-three percent of males and 54% of females developed sexual relationship. However, only 27.1% of males and 37.9% of females planned to marry. Thornton discovered that those who had never had sexual intercourse demonstrated significantly less approval of premarital sex than those who had. Also, a steady dating relationship played a key role in the process leading to first intercourse. The probabilities of experiencing first sexual intercourse increased dramatically as the respondents entered a steady dating relationship. The association between dating stages and sex relationship is also reported in some other studies. Using a college student sample, Roche and Rambsey (1993) broke dating
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process into five stages and related them to the students’ concept of proper dating behaviors and reported dating behaviors, ranging from light petting, heavy petting, to intercourse. The results suggest that a higher percentage of students reported intercourse as dating moved from stage 1 through stage 5. The percentage of adolescents who have developed sex relationship, however, varies from sample to sample. In a nonrandom sample of 1,228 adolescents attending parochial schools in the eastern United States, 12.4% of the 12–13 age group, 13.9% of the 14 age group, 34.8% of the 15–16 age group, and 61.1% of the 17–18 age group had sexual intercourse with their dates. Around 55% of students were going steady when they first had sex. Overall, literature on dating attitudes and behaviors in 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s seemed to be consistent in reporting a growing permissiveness in premarital sexual attitudes, common occurrence of sex behaviors among daters, and a relationship between dating stage and intercourse (Bell and Chaskes, 1970; Ferrel et al., 1977; King et al., 1977; Mahoney, 1978; Glenn and Weaver, 1979; DeLamater and MacCorquodale, 1979; Bell and Coughey, 1980; Earle and Perricone, 1986).
DATING IN CHINESE SOCIETY The literature on dating and mate selection in China is small. Dating is often studied as a prelude to marriage and as a means by which mate selection is fulfilled. A survey published in 1988, for instance, examined different ways by which a marital partner was selected in China. Of the 4,874 married women surveyed, 40% of them had their marriages arranged. Approximately 36% met their spouses by formal or informal introductions by friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Only 24% got married through casual meetings in schools, work-units, or leisure activities (Liu, 1988). However, the percentage of arranged marriages and free-choice marriages depends on the cohorts the respondents belonged to, as was suggested by a study of marriage cohorts in Chengdu. For the 178 women who married between 1933–1957, 43% got married through arranged marriage, 26% by formal or informal introduction, and 31% by respondents’ free choice. This was in sharp contrast with the 1958 –1976 and the 1977–1987 marriage cohorts, which had approximately 41% of respondents getting married through formal or informal introduction, and 58% by free choice. Only less than 2% of marriages were arranged. The results clearly suggest a significant transformation from arranged marriages towards free-choice marriages as well as an increasing autonomy by young people over their mate selection decision (Xu, 1994). Although the existing literature is consistent in suggesting an increasing popularity of dating in China (Bullough and Ruan, 1994; Liu, 1988; Whyte, 1990; Xu and Whyte, 1990; Xu, 1994), very little is known about the dating attitudes and behaviors of Chinese youth. The sporadic research in this field does not agree. One survey conducted by Shanghai Sexual Sociology Research Center reported that 86% of their respondents approved of premarital sex. It further estimated that approximately 30% of China’s youth actually engaged in premarital sex (Burton, 1990). Another survey conducted in Anhui province, however, reported that 98% of 500 men wanted their brides to be virgins at their weddings. This belief was supported by 94% of the 300 women questioned at the same
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time (Ji, 1990). Obviously, no conclusion of any kind can be reached regarding Chinese youth’s dating attitudes and behaviors based on the existing literature.
SAMPLE The present study employs two samples (N ⫽ 378). The American sample (N ⫽ 188) came from two general education classes and two upper-division sociology courses in a mid-Western State University. Data were collected by handing out questionnaires during class time. Married students were instructed not to fill out the questionnaire. Students who happened to enroll in two or more of these courses were also told not to submit repeatedly. The assurance of anonymity was both written on the questionnaire and provided verbally before the questionnaire distribution. A total of 188 students completed questionnaires. Approximately 29.3% were freshmen, 20.2% sophomores, 26.6% juniors, and 23.9% seniors. The male/female ratio was 43 to 57, and the average age of the respondents was 20.12. One hundred and twenty students were dating at the time of survey, of whom, 103 had developed sex relationship. The Chinese sample (N ⫽ 190) was collected from a University in Shanghai under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The questionnaire was identical to that used for the American sample. The authors translated the questionnaire into Chinese and distributed them among four general education classes. Despite the assurance of anonymity, four Chinese students seemed to have misgivings revealing their dating attitudes and behaviors. Their responses were not included in the sample because a large number of questions were left unanswered. Of the 190 valid responses, 16.8% were freshmen, 34.2% sophomores, 31.6% juniors, and 17.4% seniors. The male/female ratio was similar to that of their American counterparts at approximately 44 to 56, and the average ages were also similar at 20.92. The percentage of daters, however, was much lower than that for the American sample. Only 61 students were dating, of whom 37 had developed sexual relationships.
MEASUREMENT The questionnaire mainly consisted of two parts: dating attitudes and dating behaviors. The questions about dating attitudes were presented as statements. The response categories used Likert scale format, ranging from “strongly agree,” “agree,” “undecided,” “disagree,” to “strongly disagree.” Altogether, 13 statements about dating attitudes were included in the questionnaire. Five statements tap the respondents’ concerns about similarities between their dates and themselves. They are: “I would like to date somebody similar to my age,” “I would like to date somebody with similar educational background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same racial and ethnic background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same religious background,” and “I would like to date somebody with similar social class background.” Two statements are about the coverage of dating expenses: “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should pay the dating expenses,” and “The boy and girl should split the dating expenses.” Another two statements address the purpose of dating: “The major purpose of dating is to find a marital partner,” and “I would like to date people without
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making a commitment.” Respondents’ attitudes towards sex are also explored by two statements: “It is all right for me to have sex with my date if I intend to marry him/her,” and “It is all right for me to have sex with my date even if I have no intention to marry him/her.” Two other statements deal with who should initiate date, and when to start dating. They are: “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should initiate dates,” and “One should not start dating until 16 or older.” Questions about dating behaviors were designed for those who had dating experiences. These questions asked the respondent’s age at first dating (DATEAGE), how frequently the respondent saw the present date (DATEFREQ), how long the respondent had been dating the present date (DTLENGTH), how many persons the respondent was dating at the present time (DTNUMBER), how the respondent would describe his/her relationship with the present date (DTSTAGE), who usually paid dating expenses (DATECOST), and whether the respondent had a sexual relationship with the date (SEXYN). While the variables about age at dating and number of dates were continuous, frequency, length and stage of dating were measured at ordinal level. The variable about dating frequency had six values, ranging from “dating once a month,” “once every other week,” “once a week,” “2–3 times a week,” “4 –5 times a week,” to “6 –7 times a week.” The variable about dating length had seven values: “less than one month,” “less than three months,” “less than six months,” “less than one year,” “1–2 years,” “3– 4 years,” and “5 years and more.” Dating stage was defined to be “casual dating,” “going steady,” or “engaged.” The variables about the dating cost and sex relationship had straightforward response categories. The former had three values: “myself,” “my date,” and “we split,” while the latter was simply dichotomous. To identify underlying constructs for the attitude variables in the questionnaire, a confirmatory factor analysis, using a maximum likelihood extraction and a varimax rotation, was conducted. The factor analysis yielded four factors in all. The first factor included three statements: “I would like to date somebody with the same racial and ethnic background,” “I would like to date somebody with the same religious background,” and “I would like to date somebody with similar social class background.” Since these statements formed important dimensions of “homogamy,” the first factor was labeled “HOMODATE.” The second factor contained four statements: “One should not start dating until 16 or older,” “I would like to date people without making a commitment,” “It is all right for me to have sex with my date if I intend to marry him/her,” and “It is all right for me to have sex with my date even if I have no intention to marry him/her.” Because responses to these statements indicated whether a respondent was liberal or conservative in dating attitude, this factor was named “LIBCON.” The third factor grouped three statements. “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should initiate dates,” “Boys, not girls, are the ones that should pay the dating expenses,” and “The boy and girl should split the dating expenses.” This factor was called “EXPECT” because these statements largely tapped the respondents’ expectations in dating behavior (Table 1). Although similarities in education and age were also considered aspects of “homogamy,” the factor analysis failed to group them with race, religion, and social class variables. In accordance with the conceptual dimensions of “homogamy,” this study named the fourth factor, composed of 2 statements on education and age, as “HOMODATE2.” All factors retained had factor loadings greater than 0.30. They accounted for a total of 41% of variance in dating attitude.
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Table 1. Factor Analysis on Attitude Variables SAMERACE SAMERELG SAMECLAS SEXOKQ1 SEXOKQ2 DATEBF16 COMMITQ DTCOSTQ1 DTCOSTQ2 INITIATQ SAMEEDUC SAMEAGE
Factor 1 0.8225 0.7112 0.4363
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
0.5430 0.7500 0.5125 0.4701 1.0116 0.3613 0.4603 ⫺0.9876 ⫺0.3469
RESULTS The t test on dating attitude included the four factors plus a variable on dating purpose left out by the factor analysis. The results indicated that the American and Chinese samples differed greatly in dating attitude. Except for the factor on similarity in education and age, statistically significant differences exist for all other three factors and the dating purpose variable. The most significant difference is for the factor tapping appropriate dating age, commitment, and sexual relationship (T ⫽ 14.67 for LIBCON), with the American college students on the liberal side and the Chinese students the conservative side. This factor is followed by the dating purpose variable in magnitude of statistical significance. Whereas 42% of the Chinese college students agree or strongly agree that the major purpose of dating is to find a marital partner, only 14% of the American students share this view. The American college students’ expectations in outing are also nontraditional: boys are not necessarily the one to initiate a date and to cover the dating cost. Nevertheless, the American college students are less liberal than their Chinese counterparts in one aspect: they have placed more emphasis on homodating (see Table 2). Discrepancies in some dating behavior variables are also manifest. One hundred and twenty out of 188 American college students are presently dating, compared to 61 out of 190 for the Chinese college students. Average age to start first dating is wide apart: 14.69 for the American and 18 for the Chinese. In fact, the difference in dating age has the highest statistical significance of all dating behavior variables. The American students date more frequently than their Chinese counterparts, and tend to describe their dating relationship as “steady.” For the American students, dating is almost synonymous to having sex: approximately 86% of daters have developed sexual relationships. In comparison, around 62% of Chinese daters admitted to having had sex. No significant differences in dating length, number of dates, and dating expense coverage are observed. Because most of the daters in the two samples have developed sexual relationships, sex emerges as a major dimension of dating behaviors. For both the American and Chinese samples, no significant differences are observed in the attitude variables when the group having sexual relationships is compared with the group that has not (results not shown in the tables). Differences, however, seem to exist on a few behavior variables. For the American sample, the sex group has a median of 5.00 for length of dating, placing their
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Table 2. t Test of Dating Attitudes and Behaviors American Variable HOMODATE LIBCON EXPECT HOMODAT2 PURPOSE DATEYN DATEAGE DATEFREQ DTLENGTH DTSTAGE DTNUMBER DATECOST SEXYN
Mean 2.48 2.46 2.53 2.11 3.96 1.36 14.69 4.42 3.94 1.92 1.22 1.75 1.14
Chinese SD 0.92 0.65 0.88 0.74 0.95 0.48 1.57 1.73 1.76 0.60 0.64 0.96 0.35
Mean 2.70 3.55 2.78 2.11 3.12 1.68 18.00 3.95 4.08 1.73 1.35 1.73 1.38
SD 0.88 0.79 0.78 0.79 1.21 0.47 1.67 1.05 1.50 0.61 0.92 0.93 0.49
Sig. of T 2.37** 14.67** 2.92** 0.00 ⫺7.50** 6.55** 12.86** ⫺2.27* 0.56 ⫺1.99* 0.99 ⫺0.14 3.41**
*p ⬍0.05. **p ⬍0.01.
dating history to “1–2 years.” In comparison, the nonsex group has a median of only 2.00, denoting that they have been dating for “less than three months.” Dating stage also varies dependent on the group. The median value for the sex group is “going steady,” while that for the nonsex group is “casual dating.” In terms of number of dates, the sex group is dating 1.13 persons on average, compared to the nonsex group at 1.71. The Chinese sample demonstrates a similar pattern. The sex group has a median dating history of “1–2 years,” while the nonsex group “less than 6 months.” For dating stage, the difference is between “going steady” and “casual dating.” While numbers of dates do not show significant differences between the two groups, median date frequency has increased from “once a week” for the nonsex group to “2–3 times a week” for the sex group. A logistic regression with sex relationship as the dependent variable shows that three variables are linearly related to the propensity of having sex in the American sample. Consistent with Thornton’s study, liberal attitude towards dating emerges as a major predictor of sex relationship. A respondent scoring high on liberal attitude is much more likely to develop sex relationship than someone scoring low. Also consistent with Thornton’s study, dating stage is related to the odds of having sex in the sense that the more advanced dating stage a respondent places himself/herself in, the higher is the log odds of developing sex relationship. However, number of dates is reversely related to the dependent variable in that dating more than one person at a time decreases the probability of developing sex relationship. In the Chinese sample, only one variable, the length of dating, is significantly related to the odds of having sex. The direction is that the longer the dating relationship, the more likely the sex relationship will take place (see Table 3). Although some previous literature suggests the existence of gender differences in dating attitude and behavior (Hansen, 1977; Roscoe et al., 1987; Roche and Ramsbey, 1993), the present study fails to discover such differences on most attitude and behavior variables. The sole major difference is found with numbers of dates, with females having significantly less dating partners than males. The American sample and Chinese sample display similar patterns here (table not shown).
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Table 3. Logit Models on Sexual Relationship Variables HOMODATE LIBCON EXPECT HOMODAT2 PURPOSE DATEAGE DATEFREQ DTLENGTH DTSTAGE DTNUMBER DATECOST DATECOST (1) DATECOST (2) CONSTANT N 2 LOG L
American .1175 2.6158** 0.5984 ⫺0.5825 0.3184 0.5029 0.0154 ⫺0.4070 ⫺2.0222* 1.6781** ⫺0.1794 1.0060 ⫺11.3650 120 97.92
Chinese 3.8024 0.7327 ⫺1.4897 ⫺1.2643 2.7065 ⫺1.4554 ⫺1.9383 ⫺1.9580* ⫺2.0385 ⫺0.9023 0.7344 1.3560 21.9800 61 81.67
*p ⬍ 0.05. **p ⬍ 0.01.
DISCUSSION Overall, the discrepancies between the American and Chinese college students in dating attitude and behavior prevail over the similarities between these two groups. The American college students are on the liberal side in dating attitude. They are more liberalminded regarding date initiation, date cost, commitment, and development of sex relationship. The majority of them have had dating experiences already. They tend to date young and date more frequently. They are more likely to describe their relationship as “going steady,” and more likely to develop a sexual relationship with their dates. Their liberal dating attitude, their identification of dating stage, and numbers of their dates, are good predictors of their likelihood of developing a sexual relationship. In comparison, the Chinese college students are less liberal-minded in attitude. They date later, date less frequently, and are less likely to develop a sexual relationship. For them, the objective length of dating, rather than the more subjective definition of dating stage, is a good predictor of their odds of having a sexual relationship. In fact, some differences between the American and Chinese students are larger than the descriptive statistics have indicated. Age at first date, for example, is a key variable in the study of dating behavior. The American mean for this variable is 14.68, in contrast with a Chinese mean of 18. Because dating age is only calculated for those who are presently dating, the proportion of daters in each sample becomes meaningful. In the American sample, age at first dating is decided based on the 65% of students who are currently dating, whereas in the Chinese sample, it is only based on 32% of Chinese daters. Considering that more than two thirds of the students in the Chinese sample are nondaters and that they have an average age of 20, the real difference in age at first dating between the American and Chinese samples should be wider than 14.68 and 18. The finding that the American college students are less liberal-minded than the Chinese college students in homodating should also be viewed with caution. This reversed
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difference in homodating largely stems from the Chinese students’ willingness to date people from other race and ethnic backgrounds. Because minorities in China are small in proportion (less than 5%) and are largely concentrated in the inland provinces in China, college students in Shanghai might never have had any chance to interact with minority people. They, however, have plenty of chances to interact with overseas professors and students on campus. When asked about their willingness to date somebody from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, they are likely to interpret it as dating a foreigner. In other words, the seemingly liberal answers might result from a difference in the interpretation of the question rather than from a true liberal attitude. Similarity exists between the American and Chinese samples in that the majority daters in both samples have developed sexual relationships. However, only approximately 20% of the total Chinese college students in the sample are having sex, whereas 55% of the American sample are having sex. Examined in this light, differences in dating behavior between the two samples still prevail over similarities. What factors, then, can account for such big differences between the two samples, especially that in age at first dating? McCabe’s theory of adolescent dating (1984) is able to throw some light on this issue. In McCabe’s view, an interplay among maturation, social influences, and opportunities can best explain dating practice. Maturation consists of two aspects, physiological and psychosocial changes. Although physiological changes result in a desire for sexual release, psychosocial changes result in a search for sexual identity. However, although all individuals undergo the same maturation changes, dating practices vary from one society to another. This brings into the picture another major force: social influences, which largely come from peer group, socialization during childhood, current social pressures outside the influence of family and peers, and religion. The importance placed by the individual on maturational and social influences, combined with the opportunity to express the resulting desires, constitute the three major forces. According to McCabe, opportunity is important because it explains the difference in the sexual experiences of urban and rural adolescents. Whereas physiological aspect of maturational process for the American adolescents and Chinese adolescents can be assumed to develop at a similar pace, social influences from peers and the wider society, as well as the personal meaning attributed to dating in the two societies are different from each other. In the United States, social pressures, from peers or from the wider society, are in favor of dating rather than against it. At American high schools, for instance, ability to have dates is an indicator of “popularity” (Williamson, 1977; McCabe, 1984). Dating is regarded as a means of personality development, a search for personal identity and individual worth, and a striving toward maturity. Such a favorable environment for dating among adolescents receives reinforcement from the wider society. Most adolescent daters at the age of 13 to 15 have approval from their parents (Spredbury, 1982), and no major social institutions are against adolescent dating. As a matter of fact, it is a valued American tradition that a girl should have a boy to accompany and dance with her at the prom. American students also have more opportunities that facilitate dating. Most of them have already had driver’s license. They have easy access to automobiles and have bedrooms of their own. Thus, the favorable social influences and better opportunities for dating served to encourage and accelerate adolescents’ psychosocial changes—a search for sexual identity.
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The situation in China is opposite in almost every aspect. Dating in high school, junior and senior alike, is considered deviant. High school teachers and counselors regard it their responsibility to convince their students that early dating in high school is detrimental to their psychological growth and intellectual development. High school daters are usually considered deviants needing special attention from their parents and teachers. Early dating is also frowned at by the whole society. Besides the school authority, the parent generation, whose average age at marriage was in the late twenties, also disapprove of any dating attempts at high school level (Murstein, 1980). Opportunities for dating are limited. Privately owned automobiles are still luxury and many adolescents do not have their own bedrooms. As a result, the pursuit of personal meaning and the search for sexual identity can only be attempted after one graduates from high school. Because social influences are inseparable from cultural norms and values, it is reasonable to suggest that different cultural orientations have played a role in shaping the observed differences in dating attitudes and behaviors. American culture tends to emphasize individual freedom and rights. Adolescents’ freedom and rights are commonly acknowledged and respected by their parents and various social institutions. As a result, adolescent dating receives less controls and supervision from parents and school. Reiss (1967) suggested that lessening supervision by family and community was one reason premarital standards of sexual behavior had been liberalized. The Chinese culture, on the other hand, has been highly suppressive of individual freedom and rights. This is especially true when freedom and rights concerned are related to human sexuality. Adolescents’ interest in the opposite sex is traditionally perceived as “premature love,” to be controlled until they have reached the socially appropriate age for courtship and marriage (Honig and Hershatter, 1988). Those who failed to conform to social norms were often punished by their parents or school authorities (Honig and Hershatter, 1988). Dating is instrumental in nature, a way by which a suitable marital partner can be found, and a prelude to marriage. Deviation from this cultural orientation is generally frowned at in the Chinese society. The discrepancies observed in dating attitude and behavior between the American and Chinese college students in this study, therefore, can be regarded as resulting from discrepancies in opportunities and cultural orientations at large. Because culture is responsible for the nurturing and shaping of society members’ attitudes and behaviors, it might be the most important factor to consider in the cross-cultural study of dating attitudes and behaviors. Given that the American and Chinese societies have different cultural orientations and values, and given that culture is the most important factor in the study of dating attitudes and behaviors, the fact that the discrepancies between the American and Chinese college students in dating attitudes and behaviors have prevailed over similarities takes on significance. The suggestion seems to be that in spite of the increasing influences from the Western culture, Chinese culture is still exerting dominant influences on the Chinese college students, at least in the aspect of dating attitude and behavior. Because Chinese college students are the groups that have most exposure to the Western culture and are at an age most willing to accept changes, the wide differences observed in this study seem to also indicate that dating attitudes and behaviors of ordinary Chinese people are not likely to experience rapid changes in the near future.
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Due to the difficulty in the collection of data in China (Murstein, 1980), this crosscultural study employs convenience samples. The results yielded by this study, therefore, suffer from the limitations in their inferential power. This study, however, has made an attempt in the cross-cultural comparison of dating attitude and behavior. Hopefully, it will help contributing to the building up of a literature on comparative study of dating, courtship, and marriage.
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