A quantitative study of Chinese youth subcultures in the media context: profiles, groups, and values

Abstract

This study used the Chinese Youth Subcultural Participation Questionnaire (CYSPQ) and the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) to examine 1,788 college students’ participation in youth subcultures and their identification with various values. The study further applied K-cluster analysis to determine the characteristics of four distinct subcultural groups–Loyal Subcultural Participation (LG), Indifferent Subcultural Participation (IG), Fashionable Subcultural Participation (FG), and Adventure and Excitement Subculture Participation (AG)–as well as each of the four distinct subcultural participation groups’ relationships with certain values. The results showed no significant differences between the four groups in self-enhancement or conservative values. However, significant differences were found in openness and self-transcendence values. LG identified less with the value of self-transcendence than the other three groups, while both AG and LG identified more with the value of openness than FG and IG, with FG identifying stronger with openness than IG.