This study examines women's online dating profiles at different age ranges and answers the primary question: is there a correlation between women's self-descriptions in the popular online dating website, Jiayuan.com, and their age? In recent years, Chinese females are under great pressure to get married between the ages of 25 and 30. If a female does not have a stable relationship that is working towards long-term commitment, she starts to feel like a "leftover woman." And, there are different levels of "leftover-ness" between the ages of 25 and 40. In 2007, "sheng nv" or "leftover woman" was added to the Chinese lexicon by China's Ministry of Education. A leftover woman was defined as a "highly educated, highly paid and highly independent modern woman who has high standards towards their life partner and therefore did not get married at a relevant younger age." With this background, this study examines how social pressures associated with the "leftover" identity influences the Chinese female's attitude towards self. To do so, I analyze personal profiles on the most popular Chinese online dating website. Based on the Concept of Possible Selves (Markus and Nurius, 1986), and Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger and Calabrese, 1975), this study suggests the cultural perceptions of "leftover woman" are both right and wrong. Women do not show significant differences in breadth and depth of self-disclosure among age groups, from young to old. But comparing younger women with women in older age groups, older women do reveal more motivation in their profiles. Moreover, women's requirements for potential partners are also different among age groups. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2012. / October 31, 2012. / leftover women, online dating, self-disclosure / Includes bibliographical references. / Stephen McDowell, Professor Directing Thesis; Jeanette Castillo, Committee Member; Ulla Bunz, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183325 |
| Contributors | Wang, Zihan (authoraut), McDowell, Stephen (professor directing thesis), Castillo, Jeanette (committee member), Bunz, Ulla (committee member), School of Communication (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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