Abstract:
The present study examined the dimensionality of individual modernity in Singapore, among Chinese adolescents aged fifteen years (N = 250, M = 122, F = 128). Characteristics of modernity derived from Inkeles (1969) - need for achievement, efficient time- management, future-planning and autonomous decision-making- were examined for unidimensionality. While there was strong interdependence among achievement motivation, future-planning and time-management across all schools and for both sexes, autonomy consistently emerged as a separate dimension. The need to reconceptualize individual modernity in terms of sets of traits allied to underlying cultural values is argued.