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Guided by intergroup contact theory, this survey study investigated whether the formation of pseudo-socioemotional ties with well-known LGBT media personas in China (i.e., parasocial relationships) could reduce cisgender heterosexual Chinese participants' anxiety toward and prejudice against the LGBT community. Results indicated a significant indirect effect of parasocial relationship with LGBT media personas on prejudice against this community through intergroup anxiety: the parasocial relationship was negatively associated with intergroup anxiety, which was consequently associated with less prejudice. Moreover, results indicated the direct effect of parasocial relationships with LGBT media personas on prejudice was moderated by participants' direct contact with LGBT members: parasocial relationships reduced prejudice only for those who had more direct contact with LGBT individuals. These findings add nuances and create boundary conditions to intergroup contact theory and bear significant practical implications for the Chinese LGBT community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has pinpointed that social support from host, co-national, and other international friends plays a pivotal role in successful adaptation to a new culture, yet research on this topic pertaining to China is inadequate. As such, using a cross-sectional sample of sojourners (N = 199) in major Chinese cities, the current study examines the relationship between sojourners' self-reports of social support from the three sources and two psychological adaptation variables (i.e., anxiety and well-being) as well as the moderating effect of objective cultural distance. Regression analysis indicates that perceptions of host and international support are significant negative predictors of anxiety and positive predictors of psychological well-being. In addition, cultural distance moderated these predictive associations: host support and international support had a stronger negative association with anxiety and host support had a stronger positive association with well-being for participants whose cultural distance to China was lower compared to those whose cultural distance was higher. This study enhances our understanding of the dynamic interplay between social support and cultural distance in cross-cultural adaptation research within a Chinese cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined Chinese daughters-in-law's (N = 287) perceptions of the husband's conflict management styles in their dyadic interaction regarding mother/daughter-in-law conflicts and associations with marital satisfaction and relational satisfaction with the mother-in-law. Results showed that the problem-solving style was perceived to be used most by the husband, followed by the accommodating, avoiding, and competing styles. In addition, the problem-solving and accommodating styles were positively associated, whereas the competing and avoiding styles were negatively associated with judgments of communication appropriateness and effectiveness, and the relational satisfaction variables. Furthermore, results indicated a moderator effect of shared family identity on the associations between perceptions of the husband's conflict management styles and relational satisfaction with the mother-in-law. Implications of the findings were discussed with reference to the prior literature on interpersonal conflict management, the Common Ingroup Identity Model, family relationships, as well as culture change in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined commercials (N = 141) featuring older adult(s) shown on three Chinese TV stations (i.e., national, provincial, and local) in the fall of 2005 to uncover the dominant value themes, the major product categories, and the association between value themes and product categories. Content analysis results revealed that three dominant value themes (i.e., health/life, product effectiveness, and family) appeared frequently in the Chinese television commercials featuring older adults, in which some major product categories such as food/drink, food/health supplements, and medicine were promoted. Results also indicated that the value of health/life was presented frequently in commercials for medicine and food/health supplements and that the family value appeared frequently in food/drinks commercials. Altogether these results demonstrated the importance of health and a lack of emphasis of modern values in Chinese television commercials which feature older adults, indicating a mixed view of aging (i.e., passive and negative). Findings are discussed in the context of the Chinese culture, aging, and television advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined 1,631 college students’ endorsement of traditional Confucian values in four East Asian cultural contexts (i.e., China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan). Findings showed that young people endorsed values of interpersonal harmony the most, followed by the relational hierarchy and traditional conservatism respectively. Results also indicated that participants in China provided the highest ratings for interpersonal harmony and relational hierarchy among the four cultures. Finally, results demonstrated that Japanese females were more conservative than Japanese males and females in China and Taiwan. Results were discussed in the philosophical tradition of Confucianism, globalization and culture change in the East Asian cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined young adults' written accounts of intergenerational communication in conflict situations in the People's Republic of China. Using a content analysis approach, this study identified five major types of initiating factors that precipitated intergenerational conflict. Old-to-young criticism was most frequent, followed by illegitimate demand and rebuff. The least frequent initiating factors included young-to-old criticism and disagreement/generation gap. In addition, results indicated that more rebuffs were from nonfamily elders than from family elders, whereas disagreement with family elders was more frequent than with non-family elders. Proportionally speaking, no differences emerged between family and nonfamily elders for criticism (both old-to-young and young-to-old) and illegitimate demand. Results are discussed with respect to research in intergenerational communication, interpersonal conflict, and the Chinese socio-cultural norm of hierarchy and filial piety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitive and accurate method based on the use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of eight illegal synthetic dyes (Sudan (I-IV), Para Red, Rhodamine B, Chrysoidin and Auramine O) in chili products. A simple sample treatment procedure entailing the use of an extraction step with acetonitrile/H2O (9/1) without further cleanup was developed. HPLC was performed on a C18 column using a multistep gradient elution with 5mM ammonium acetate (pH 3.0 with formic acid) and methanol as the mobile phase. Mass spectral acquisition was done in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode using positive electrospray ionization (ESI). Linear calibrations were obtained with correlation coefficients R(2)>0.99. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for the studied dyes were in the ranges of 0.05-0.6μgkg(-1) and 0.3-3.0μgkg(-1) depending on matrices, respectively. The recoveries of the eight synthetic dyes in five matrices ranged from 70.5% to 119.2%. The intra- and inter-day precisions (RSDs) were between 2.3-15.8% and 5.7-15.6%, respectively. The applicability of the method to the determination of eight banned dyes in chili products was demonstrated., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)