This book provides a systematic psychological study of merged-homes marriage families, a new model of marriage and family arrangement that has emerged in some rural areas of China in the last 20 years. In this arrangement, after the marriage of a couple, three families start living together: the paternal grandparents' family, the maternal grandparents' family and the young couple with their children as a nuclear family. Drawing on rich qualitative fieldwork conducted in the rural area of the city of Suzhou, in eastern China, the volume analyzes how individuals actively construct meaning, negotiate roles, and manage competing obligations across generations within a family model that operates at the intersection of integration and separation.

Instead of looking at the macro- and meso- level from a sociological or anthropological perspective, this volume focuses on the micro psychological level and tries to understan the dynamics between the three families and how the traditional values of family life get preserved and transformed into the families’ daily interactions within this new model of marriage. By situating merged-homes marriage families within debates on patriarchy, gender equality, and intergenerational intimacy, the book highlights how traditional patrilineal norms are both challenged and reconfigured in contemporary rural China.

Three Families in One Marriage: Chinese Merged-Homes Marriage Families on the Border of Separation and Integration will contribute to interdisciplinary scholarship in cultural and developmental psychology, family sociology, and Chinese studies by offering an empirically grounded and conceptually nuanced account of new family practices and their implications for understanding family change in the Global South.

Shuangshuang Xu is assistant professor in the Department of Educational Studies, Academy of Future Education, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China. Dr. Xu holds a Ph.D in Cultural Psychology from Aalborg University, Denmark. She obtained her master's and bachelor's degree from the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University. Her research interest centers on the general area of cultural developmental psychology. Particularly, she is interested in using arts-based methods as an innovative qualitative method to research and intervene in child development. Her research topics cover educational and developmental intervention, arts-based qualitative methods, imagination and affective semiosis. Dr. Xu is the first editor of the book Social Ecology of a Chinese Kindergarten: Where Culture Grows (Springer, 2020) and she is also an associate editor of the journal Human Arenas. 

Juliana Tay earned her MA and PhD degrees in gifted education from Purdue University in the US. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China. Dr Tay’s research interest includes working with students with gifts and talents, evaluation of educational programs, and the use of technology in education. She has published in prestigious journals, such as Computers & Education and Gifted Child Quarterly. She has also presented at national and international conferences such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference, National Association for Gifted Children annual convention, and the Conference of the European Council for High Ability.

Lixin Ren is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the Academy of Future Education, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology, specializing in developmental psychology, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Dr. Ren’s research centers on how various familial and extra-familial factors impact young children’s development within the Chinese context. She has led projects investigating Chinese parents’ evolving child-rearing beliefs and practices, co-parenting dynamics, young children’s engagement in organized extracurricular activities, and emotion-focused parenting interventions. Her involvement in various cross-cultural child-rearing projects has broadened her perspective, allowing her to explore the universal and culturally specific aspects of child development.

Lay Huah Goh has over 30 years of experience as a teacher, trainer, coach and mentor. She served as associate professor at Xian-Jiaotong Liverpool University, China, from 2022 to 2024. She is now Professor at HELP University Malaysia. Her current research focuses on technology integration in teaching, English language teaching, and educational management and leadership.