Urbanization and the Transformation of Traditional Family Values in Developing Nations: A Mixed-Methods Study of Dehli, Dhaka, and Jakarta

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of traditional family values amid rapid urbanization in three large South and Southeast Asian cities: Delhi, Dhaka, and Jakarta. Adopting an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the research combines a household survey of 1,500 respondents (Delhi n = 550, Dhaka n = 450, Jakarta n = 500) collected between March and September 2023 with 60 in-depth interviews conducted across 20 multi-generational families. Quantitative analysis using regression and mediation modelling tests the relationships between urbanization indicators, family structure, and values orientation; qualitative analysis using reflexive thematic analysis explores the lived experience of intergenerational value negotiation. Findings indicate that joint family arrangements declined from approximately 62 per cent of urban households in 1990 to 31 per cent in 2023 across the three cities, with the steepest decline in Delhi. Regression analysis indicates that each additional year of female education raises the modernization-of-values score by 0.046 standard deviations (p < .001), holding household income constant, with education effects partially mediated by labour force participation. Qualitative analysis identifies four overarching themes: negotiated tradition, intergenerational dialogue, hybrid family forms, and eldercare anxiety. The study contributes to the literature on family transformation by providing comparative cross-city evidence from South and Southeast Asia and by extending modernisation theory through attention to the active negotiation of cultural materials across generations within urban families.