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Filial Piety and Psychological Well-Being in Well Older Chinese

¹ Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong.
² Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Address correspondence to Sheung-Tak Cheng, Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong. E-mail: tak.cheng{at}cityu.edu.hk

Chinese older persons (N = 164) recruited from social centers responded to a survey instrument tapping the perceived filial behaviors of children (close vs not close), and the degree to which these behaviors matched personal expectations (filial discrepancy). Across all kinds of filial behaviors, providing attention when the parent was ill or distressed was perceived to be the least performed and was most discrepant with expectations. Whether the children were paying respect and whether they were providing care in times of illness or distress were most important in determining a sense of filial discrepancy in the parent. However, after functional limitations and financial strain were controlled for, only respect emerged as a consistent predictor of psychological well-being. These findings were similar whether the target was the closest child(ren) or less close children. There was no evidence that a child's overdoing his or her filial role was detrimental to the parents' well-being among the Chinese individuals in this study.