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Little research has examined the development of gratitude in youth, and none has related their gratitude to their wishes. We therefore asked 358 7-to 14-year-old North American participants (56% female; 55% White) to write their greatest wish and what they would do for their benefactor. Using chi-square and linear curve estimation, we found that younger youth (aged 7 to 10) were significantly more likely to express hedonistic wishes (desire for immediate gain) and concrete gratitude (not taking the benefactor's wishes into account); older youth (aged 11 to 14) were significantly more likely to wish either for something involving future well-being for themselves or the well-being of others and connective gratitude (taking into account the benefactor's wishes). Within both age groups, there was a significant inverse relation between hedonistic wishes and connective gratitude. This research has implications for encouraging the feeling and expression of connective gratitude. Keywords: gratitude, child development, adolescent development Os Desejos e a Expressão de Gratidão dos JovensResumo: Poucos estudos examinaram o desenvolvimento da gratidão em jovens, e nenhum estabeleceu relações entre sua gratidão e seus desejos. Assim, solicitamos a 358 participantes norte-americanos entre 7 e 14 anos de idade (56% meninas; 55% brancos) que escrevessem qual seria o seu maior desejo e o que eles fariam a seu benfeitor. Utilizando qui quadrado e estimativa de curva linear, encontramos que os mais jovens (de 7 a 10 anos de idade) foram significativamente mais propensos a expressar desejos hedonistas (desejo por ganho imediato) e gratidão concreta (não considerando os desejos do benfeitor); os jovens mais velhos (de 11 a 14 anos de idade) foram significativamente mais propensos a desejar seja algo envolvendo bem-estar futuro para si mesmos seja o bem-estar de outros e gratidão conectiva (levando em conta os desejos do benfeitor). Em ambos os grupos etários, houve uma relação inversa significativa entre desejos hedonistas e gratidão conectiva. Esta pesquisa tem implicações para encorajar o sentimento e a expressão de gratidão conectiva. Palavras-chave: gratidão, desenvolvimento infantil, desenvolvimento do adolescente Los Deseos y la Expresión de la Gratitud en los JóvenesResumen: Pocos estudios han examinado el desarrollo de gratitud en los jóvenes, y ninguno ha relacionado su gratitud a sus deseos. Por lo tanto, pedimos a 358 participantes de América del Norte de 7 a 14 años de edad (55% femenino, 55% blanco) a escribir su mayor deseo y lo que harían por su benefactor. Utilizando un distribución ji-cuadrado y estimación curva lineal, encontramos que los más jóvenes (de 7 a 10 años de edad) fueron significativamente más propensos a expresar los deseos hedonistas (deseo de ganancia inmediata) y la gratitud de concreto (no tomar los deseos del benefactor en cuenta); los jóvenes mayores (de 11 a 14 años de edad) fueron significativamente más propensos a desear sea para algo relacionado con el bienestar futuro para sí mism...

This article presents findings from interviews with 16 middle school students and their parents in Guangzhou, China, about parent-adolescent relationships. Themes revealed from the conversations suggested that adolescents were generally pleased with the good relationships with their parents, that they enjoyed the respect their parents had for them as their parents tended to use peaceful reasoning to communicate parental expectations, and that they themselves cared a lot about academic attainment because it would lead to good jobs in the future. In addition, working-class parents expressed a sense of inadequacy while holding on to the high hopes and expectations for their children, whereas middle-class parents and parents who had middle-class experiences either in their occupation or in their education tried to raise well-rounded children apart from emphasis on academic achievement. In sum, these parents and adolescents represented a generation that was influenced by a myriad of social forces in modern China, including Confucianism, Socialism, and Capitalism, instead of simply and solely by classical Confucianism. In other words, Confucianism, along with the lifestyle that supported it, was far less salient than assumed in a lot of research on Chinese families and parent-child relationships.

The present study examined Chinese parents' and adolescents' beliefs in the legitimacy of decision authority with reference to specific issues from the prudential, conventional, multifaceted, and personal domains. The sample included 698 adolescents aged 12–15 and their parents from southern China. Parents and adolescents reported on their own beliefs respectively. Subgroups of parent and adolescent participants characterized by distinct patterns of beliefs across issues were identified with latent class analyses (LCA). Further, configural frequency analyses (CFA) were conducted to examine the match between parent subgroups and adolescent subgroups. In addition, the LCA‐derived subgroups varied across residency status, sibling status, and child gender, and were linked to adolescent depressive symptoms and school misconduct. These associations with external variables provided evidence for the distinctiveness of the latent classes. Results were discussed in light of social domain theory and the socio‐historical context where the participants were situated.

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