Father-daughter relationships during girls’ adolescence in urban China

The long history of Confucianism and Taoism in Chinese society gives both girls’ and fathers’ roles in Chinese families their own specific meanings. The paper is to research girls’ and fathers’ perceptions of father-daughter relationships among two cohorts of girls aged 13/14 and aged 16/17. It will seek to understand, from fathers’ and daughters’ perspectives, fathers’ influences on girls’ lives in the domains of education, work and career aspirations. In addition, how their relationships change across adolescent girls’ lives will also be explored. The study of father-child relationships which has been relatively neglected is now receiving more attention. However, most of this research has been on the impact of fathers on younger children, and mostly on boys. This study is aiming to provide a clearer picture of the father-daughter relationships in a changing society, by learning from studies which have been conducted in the west.