Objective The aim of the proposed project is to study Chinese children's developmental trajectories in the context of drastic sociodemographic change. The objective is twofold: 1) to produce new empirical knowledge about the childrearing practices and cultural theories of child development in China, which can provide a basis for further cross-cultural and longitudinal comparisons; and 2) to contribute to recent multidisciplinary efforts to theorise the relationship between child development, cultural systems and social change, and to develop mixed-method approaches for research in this field. I will focus on the psychological concepts independence and interdependence that cover various values and behaviours in different sociocultural contexts, such as autonomy, collectivism, self-regulation, responsibility, competition, assertiveness and obedience. I will study the manifestation of these different components, and the way they are structured in relation to each other, in two urban Chinese communities: one of permanent urban residents and one of recent rural-urban labour migrants. The two communities differ in several sociodemographic characteristics that relate to the learning environments of infants and young children, and thus set up diverging developmental trajectories. This study of within-culture variance will allow the testing of recent theoretical formulations about the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, cultural values and child development. It also responds to the recent calls for more cooperation and integration between anthropology and psychology. Ethnographic fieldwork will be complemented by methods of developmental psychology to address particular aspects of cognitive and social development. The aim is to conduct research that meets anthropological requirements for holism and ecological validity, as well as psychological requirements for systematicity and replicability. Fields of science social sciencessociologyanthropologysocial sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrationssocial sciencespsychologydevelopmental psychology Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: "Intra-European fellowships for career development" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Coordinator LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE EU contribution € 231 283,20 Address Houghton Street 1 WC2A 2AE London United Kingdom See on map Region London Inner London — West Westminster Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Daniel Fisher Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data