A new look at filial piety: ideals and practices of family-centered parent care in Korea

This paper presents results of the analysis of 817 stories about Koreans who exemplify filial piety, a dominant value of East Asian nations. Corollaries were identified, such as types of care and services provided to elderly parents, motives for filial piety, kinds of emphases given in filial duties, and sacrifices endured for parents. The most outstanding dimensions underlying filial piety were respect, responsibility, family harmony and sacrifice. Findings provide both conceptual and practical tools for understanding and practicing filial piety.     

Filial Piety in Modern Times: Timely Adaptation and Practice Patterns

Abstract. In recent years industrialisation and urbanisation have weakened the willingness of adult children to care for their elderly parents. The results of the author's studies reveal that the majority of Korean adult children still value and practice filial piety in their day-to-day living. However, the way they express this cultural value has changed in the process of adapting to rapid and massive social changes. For instance many of them, due to job situation, schooling and needs to explore better opportunities, live separately from their elderly parents. In spite of this physical separation, most Korean adult children strive to practice filial piety in terms of affection, responsibility, family harmony, repayment, sacrifice and so forth. By expressing and practising these basic values using the telephone, letters, visitation and other tools for communication, they maintain close relationships with their elderly parents. The relationship between parents and adult children in Korea is transforming into a new type in which mutual respect and reciprocal care and support are considered more important than submission to the authority of the elderly.     

Differences in expectations and patterns of informal support for older persons in Hong Kong: Modification to filial piety

Informal care provided by family has been the cornerstone for older persons in Hong Kong. Changes in the structure of Hong Kong family alter this supportive function, and changes in traditional filial piety values affect the nature of the care and support provided. This proposition was investigated by a quantitative study involving structural survey interviews of 390 older persons in Hong Kong. The findings show that there are discrepancies between expected and actual caring functions. Living arrangements and geographical proximity affect the needs for and provision of informal support. Financial support has compensated for inadequate personal care by adult children. There is evidence to show that informal support for the older persons is changing. Traditional Confucian filial piety is undergoing modification, perhaps erosion, implying ongoing changes in intergenerational relations in this modernized Asian society. He is also the program director of the Bachelor of Social Science Program. He received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Toronto. His research interests include economic and social development, ethnic and gender studies, social security, social gerontology, and poverty. He received his doctorate in sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interest is mainly in family studies. His current major work is: “The caregiving role of the sandwich generation in coping with their elderly parents in Hong Kong: The trends and their policy implications,” funded by the East Asian Development Network (EADN). He has also been conducting research on elderly care, young-old partnership, and human psychological well-being. He has published four books and a number of papers and research reports.     

Filial Piety and Functional Support: Understanding Intergenerational Solidarity Among Families with Migrated Children in Rural China

Using the intergenerational solidarity theory, the author examined how functional solidarity (intergenerational support regarding to elder care) impacts normative solidarity (filial piety) among families with migrated children in rural China. Data was drawn from a survey of 1,443 elders in three inland migrant-exporting provinces of China. The study revealed the following findings: (1) the elders did not evaluate children’s filial piety lower after their migration, which suggests an adjustment on the elderly parents’ part regarding the traditional expectations of filial piety. (2) Migrated son’s filial piety was indeed evaluated lower than those of daughters, which suggests a continuation of the traditional norms of patrilinealty for filial piety. (3) Elderly parents’ evaluations of migrated children’s filial piety were positively related to migrated children’s provision of financial care. (4) Elderly parents who took care of grandchildren had a positive evaluation of filial piety than those who did not. (5) An exchange-based intergenerational support mechanism did not have an impact on rural elderly parents’ evaluation of children’s filial piety. The author concludes that taking into consideration of the economic and cultural context of rural China, functional support, in the form of intergenerational support and exchange, suggest the continuation as well as changes of filial piety among rural families.     

Societal filial piety has made traditional individual filial piety much less important in contemporary Japan

In contemporary Japan, the phrase 'oya-koh-koh'–'filial piety' is seldom used by young and middle-aged persons. This is because before and during World War II, the then ultra-nationalistic Japanese government placed extreme emphasis on the importance of filial piety in parallel with loyalty to the Emperor and to the nation. Therefore, after the war, Japanese people had a strong tendency to regard filial piety as a phrase having a negative connotation that recalls the memory of the terrible and merciless pre-war rule by the then ultra-nationalistic government. However, as far as the value is concerned it can rightfully be said that the virtue that the phrase 'oya-koh-koh'–'filial piety' did stand for is still maintained and even upheld in contemporary Japan. Another important reason why filial piety receives little attention in contemporary Japan can be found in the highly developed social security and social service programs for the elderly. Owing to these programs Japanese adult children are now only required to care for their parents within the limits of their physical and financial ability.     

Filial responsibility expectations of Nigerian and Indian University students

The study examines the likely future scenarios of old age care in Nigerian and Indian societies through examination of the attitudes of the youth towards the elderly, their filial responsibility expectations and their old age expectations. Results suggest that while there are gross similarities in the expressed value placed on old people in the two societies, subtle differences exist between them and that modernization as a socio-cultural force seems to have affected the two societies differently as regards old age attitudes and receptivity to formalized care of the old.     

Filial Piety and Intergenerational Solidarity in Japan

The Confucian norm of filial piety is generally assumed as an underlying ideology of the traditional living arrangement of the Japanese elderly, ie., patri-lineal, patrt-local stem family. In this article, the author describes the changes in filial piety and co-residence, and observes social relationships of the contemporary Japanese elderly. A survey with 882 elderly community residents as subjects clearly showed differential roles of others played in the social world of the elderly, especially significant differences between daughters and daughters-in-law. Elderly parents feel emotionally close to their daughters whether they live together or apart, while they seldom feel emotionally close to co-resident daughters-in-law who actually provide instrumental support. Although living with a married son is still a preferred arrangement, it is likely to bring harmful interactions with coresident daughters-in-law. Therefore avoiding co-residence might be a meaningful choice for the elderly without immediate need of instrumental support. In Japan, intergenerational relationships between elderly parents and their adult children become more affection-based, convenience-oriented, and free from the norm of filial piety than they used to be.     

Filial piety revisited in the context of modernizing Asian societies

This paper discusses the concept of filial piety in the context of social changes in Asia, in particular Singapore. The changing meaning and expression of this concept, which is also a cultural value, has to be researched by Asian gerontologists. The empirical research in Singapore shows that while this concept is still considered important its definition is shifting.     

Older People's Belief of Filial Piety in China: Expectation and Non-expectation

This paper discusses the concept of filial piety and whether older generations of Chinese people have reduced their expectations of these behaviors from younger generations. The paper describes two studies (conducted in mainland China) that examine expectations for filial piety. The first study looks at the demographic variance on older adults' expectation of filial piety and finds no differences in the effects of age, gender, living area, educational level, etc., on levels of expectation. Close correlation exists, however, between well-being and levels of filial piety expectation. The second study introduces a modified version of filial piety expectation scale (FPE) and describes a dual model of filial piety that characterizes this concept in terms of two separate factors. The FPE is compared with attitudes to aging using a new standardized measure (the Attitudes toward Aging Questionnaire [AAQ]), and a strong positive relationship is evident. Data are discussed regarding the traditional value of filial piety, and its modifications, in current Mainland China.     

Ageing in Hong Kong

Abstract. Hong Kong has experienced a steady and significant growth in its elderly population. Being essentially a Chinese community, the traditional virtue of filial piety has been upheld and the family is expected to be the prime source of care for its members. However, there has been a gradual increase in the number of nuclear families and a gradual dwindling of the positive image of the elderly person, which threatens the basis for community care for the elderly. About half of the elderly population are living in government rental housing and are receiving public primary medical care. Community support services are not in-home support in nature and are of low levels of care. The professional and social organisations unanimously urge the government to take a more proactive stance in providing services to the elderly and encourage the community to revitalise its traditional Chinese cultural heritage in caring for the elderly.     

The Gendered Nature of Filial Piety — A Study among Chinese Canadians

This paper examines the modern face of filial piety enactment among Chinese families living away from their homeland. It empirically assesses filial piety practices among a random sample of diasporic Chinese Canadians, by studying the role of sons, daughters and spouses in providing assistance with basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and perceptions of support; the relative contribution of the traditional Chinese caring unit (son plus daughter-in-law) with assistance provided; whether source of assistance changes when amount of care is taken into account, when the gendered nature of tasks is taken into account and when controlling for other factors in multivariate analyses. N = 2,272 Chinese seniors (age 55+) living in seven cities across Canada. The findings reveal that, among these diasporic Chinese, patterns found in other Chinese societies are evident in their tendency to live with children, even when the spouse is still living, and the involvement of sons and the son/daughter-in-law unit in providing care. However, similar to recent findings for China, daughters and spouses are involved in all 3 areas of support examined and importantly, their involvement increases as more assistance is provided while that from sons decreases, notably in terms of IADL. The participation of daughters-in-law tends to be lower than that of either sons or daughters. The involvement of spouses increases for perceived or emotional support. The findings suggest a blending of Chinese and Canadian patterns of care and are discussed in terms of the changing but still gendered nature of care. The data for this study were part of a larger project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The first author was a co-investigator on that project.     

Strength Perspective: An Analysis of Ageing in Place Care Model in Taiwan Based on Traditional Filial Piety

In the 1990s, the government in Taiwan proposed a series of community care related policies, in which the main care model was designed to be ‘the local taking care of the local’. In response to the social problems arising from the ageing of the population and the growing demands for welfare, Executive Yuan of Taiwan formulated the Development Program for the Care Service Industry in 2001. The government designed the elderly care policies based on the notions of community care in promoting the care industry. The community care policies would better serve the elderly and encourage families to purchase affordable services. The government aimed to encourage the non-profit sector and the commercial sector to provide care services. In Taiwan, with the notion of ‘in place’ care, the community care model has become a new trend. This study first analyzes the policies and the practices of community care in Taiwan. Secondly, it discusses how to make use of the ‘strength culture’ among Chinese people to construct a community care model based on the strength perspective of traditional filial piety. Finally, it analyzes the ‘community care centers’ that Taiwan is currently running with the aim of constructing a system of ‘ageing-in-place’ community care based upon the tenets of filial piety.

Filial Piety and Parental Depressive Symptoms: All Children Matter – Evidence from Rural Northern China

Little research has considered all children while investigating adult children’s role in their older parents’ health and well-being. In this study, we examine the effect of filial piety across all children on parental depressive symptoms. A sample of 432 older parents with 1,223 adult children in a rural county in northern China rated the filial piety level for each child individually. Ratings were then combined across multiple children and organized into an ordinal variable of filial piety including three levels: all children being filial, some of the children being filial, and none of the children being filial. Ordinary least squares linear regression analyses were performed. The results reveal a significant and negative relationship between adult children’s filial piety levels and older parents’ depressive symptoms after controlling for age, gender, marital status, financial strain, chronic conditions, and social support from family and friends, respectively. That is, one level lower in the adult children’s filial piety corresponds to increase in level of older parents’ depressive symptoms. Filial piety seems to benefit older Chinese parents’ mental health net of social support from family and friends in this sample. Including information from all children in the analyses is informative for better understanding the psychological significance of filial piety for healthy aging in China.

     

Filial piety and intergenerational relationship in Korean immigrant families

This article examines the changing nature of socio-economic conditions for Korean immigrants, which strain their intergenerational relationships in the United States. As the family-kinship system of Korean immigrants changes toward the conjugal family, it is contended that their traditional expectation of filial piety should be modified. The problems in fulfilling the traditional expectation of filial piety and the nature of the modified expectation of filial piety are discussed.     

Coresidence With Elderly Parents in Contemporary China: The Role of Filial Piety,Reciprocity, Socioeconomic Resources,and Parental Needs

This paper examines how adult children’s expressed filial piety, receipt of help from parents, socioeconomic resources, and parents’ needs are associated with the likelihood of parent–child coresidence in contemporary China. Drawing on the 2002 wave of the Chinese Survey of Family Dynamics and the 2002 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, we used logistic regression to analyze correlates of coresidence with parents of 3,938 married adult children, aged 35 to 65. Results show that the stronger the filial piety expressed by adult children, the higher their likelihood of coresiding with their parents. Married adult children are also more likely to coreside with elderly parents who have provided intensive grandchild care and financial support or with those who need financial, physical, and emotional support. However, adult children who own homes are significantly less likely to live with their parents than are those who do not. These findings suggest that coresidence in contemporary China is influenced not only by parents’ needs but also by children’s values, socioeconomic resources, and past receipt of parental help.     

The impact of Asian descent on the incidence of acquired severe aplastic anaemia in children

Previous studies have suggested an increased incidence of acquired severe aplastic anaemia in Asian populations. We evaluated the incidence of aplastic anaemia in people of Asian descent, using a well-defined paediatric (0-14 years) population in British Columbia, Canada to minimize environmental factors. The incidence in children of East/South-east Asian descent (6.9/million/year) and South Asian (East Indian) descent (7.3/million/year) was higher than for those of White/mixed ethnic descent (1.7/million/year). There appeared to be no contribution by environmental factors. This study shows that Asian children have an increased incidence of severe aplastic anaemia possibly as a result of a genetic predisposition.     

Health-seeking behaviors of elderly Chinese Americans: shifts in expectations

PURPOSE: This study reported a qualitative analysis of health-seeking behaviors of community-dwelling elderly Chinese Americans on the influences of family network, cultural values, and immigrant experience in their use of health resources. Barriers to health care, pathway of health care, and adaptation of health care by use of self-treatment and Eastern and Western medicines were also examined. DESIGN AND METHODS: The investigators used content analysis to obtain themes and key points of focus group interview data (N = 25) to explore the elderly participants' attitudes, values, and practices in their use of health resources. Survey questionnaires in Chinese were used to compile demographic data. RESULTS: Findings suggested a shift from traditional expectations of filial piety to more dependence on neighbors and friends, and a genuine adaptability to combining Eastern and Western health care modalities. Immigration was not proposed by these Chinese elders as an explanation of shifts in expectations for family support or values. IMPLICATIONS: This study has implications for research, service delivery, and policy making for health care of ethnic elderly persons, particularly in addressing structural and cultural issues in access and compliance.     

Introduction: Aging in Asia—Perennial Concerns on Support and Caring for the Old

This introductory article provides background to an understanding of "Aging in Asia," focusing on the demographics of population aging in Asia. It discusses the differences in the magnitude of the aged population in different parts of Asia and highlights the perennial concerns of care and support facing the aged and their families as Asian societies grapple with the graying population. Globalization is one important factor presenting new challenges as well as opportunities to aging Asia. The introduction substantiates the discussions in this special issue, which range from an examination of broad issues of support for the aged and policy directions in East and Southeast Asia, to specific concerns relating to activity and elderly in Singapore, intergenerational relationships in Korea, and issues concerning caregiving of the old in Singapore.     

Eldercare in the Transnational Setting: Insights from Bangladeshi Transnational Families in the United States

Little is known about the emotional impact of caregiving for elderly parents on migrant child in the transnational setting. To address this gap in the literature, this study examines the stressors, mediators, and outcomes of eldercare in the transnational context. Data were collected from 21 Bangladeshi immigrant men and women living in the United States who had living parents in Bangladesh over 60 years old. Despite the geographic distance, the migrants provide care to their parents such as emotional support, financial assistance, and arranging for care. While the health status of the care recipients contributed to primary objective stressors, none of the transnational caregivers’ narratives reflected the presence of any subjective stressors such as role overload, role captivity, and relational deprivation. Distance and depending on others for hands-on caregiving resulted in feelings of loss of control over the caregiving process. Caregivers experienced a range of emotions from guilt, excessive worrying, and distress over the unpredictability and uncertainty of their circumstances. Kin networks, communicative technologies, and a cultural norm of filial piety contributed to mediating stress. The findings underscore the importance of supportive institutional policies such as visa and travel policies, employment leave, and counseling services for caregivers who provide care for their elderly parents transnationally.