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Purpose: Despite the significance of filial piety in intergenerational relationships and its important influence on parental health and well-being, few studies have explored the personal meaning of filial piety to older parents. This qualitative study aims to address this question.

Design: Responses to an open-ended question of “What makes a filial child in your view?” from a sample of 432 older parents in a rural Chinese county were collected face-to-face and analyzed using content analysis.

Findings: The personal meaning of filial piety varies. Seven broad themes emerged. These include widely persistent traditional filial piety beliefs (Be obedient, Respect, and Maintain frequent contact and show emotional care), filial piety values similar to filial obligations described in Western cultures (Help older parents when in times of need and Be a good citizen and take good care of themselves and their families), and traditional filial piety norms in the absolute form (Take care of every aspect of the parents’ life and Provide financial and material support to parents). Themes were also compared with dimensions of the intergenerational solidarity model.

Originality: Findings reflect the coexistence of traditional and modern filial values in relation to participants’ interpretation of filial piety, indicating that traditional filial piety beliefs are fading even in one of the least developed areas in China. Implications for interventions enhancing offspring’s filial performance are discussed.

Research limitations: Future studies on the understanding of filial piety from the perspective of offspring are warranted to draw a holistic picture of this topic.

A review of the literature on the Filipino elderly reveals that social and cultural expectations of filial duty and obligations are still strong in the Filipino family. Filial piety based on the concept of “utang na loob” or debt of gratitude to parents, and respect for age are important traditional Filipino values as evident in the support given by children to their parents, and in the words and practices showing deference to the older generation. Studies have shown that the most common living arrangement of the elderly is co-residence with children or to have at least one child living close by in the neighborhood. With the generally poor economic well-being of the elderly, they rely heavily on their children both in the Philippines and abroad for support. Caregiving of the elderly is family-based with the children, particularly the daughters, as major providers of care and assistance to maintain their physical well-being. Studies have also shown the importance of intergenerational solidarity for the social well-being and mental health of the elderly through constant communication and visits, with a two-way flow of economic and emotional support between parents and children. Institutionalization of the elderly appears to be a last resort to complement rather than replace the welfare function of the family.

For future research, it is recommended that government laws benefitting the elderly and their implementation be analyzed, including the most effective way to reach those in remote areas in order to disseminate information on their benefits. Studies should also be done to develop programs for caregiving training and incentives, on ways to uphold standards and monitor the quality of facilities of private retirement homes, to establish more government homes or home-care services for the indigent who needs long-term care. It is also recommended that studies on geriatric centers and facilities be done to ensure high-quality of elderly care.

The Philippines experienced several demographic and socioeconomic changes in the past decades, such as rising urbanization, educational expansion, lengthening life expectancy, and increasing overseas labor migration. These changes will have significant ramifications for families and households. For example, educational expansion may delay union formation and accelerate union dissolution. Meanwhile, the joint effect of declining fertility and increasing life expectancy can lead to population aging, which has important implications for intergenerational support and the provision of care to older adults. Against this backdrop, this chapter aims to sketch a demographic portrait of the Filipino family in the past decades, using different sources, including census and survey data. Specifically, it examines trends in union formation (marriage and cohabitation) and union dissolution (divorce and separation) in the Philippines and explores Filipinos’ attitudes toward these behaviors. It also describes trends in fertility, fertility preference, and childlessness among Filipino women. Finally, it investigates changes (or lack thereof) in household size and structure in the Philippines, including the living arrangements and intergenerational support among older Filipinos.

Previous studies as well as anecdotes have indicated that parental involvement in adult children’s marital conflicts is fairly common in Korea. This study attempts to explain how in-law conflicts – arguably a structural outcome of the traditional Confucian family – lead to marital disruption in contemporary families.

This study adopts the hypotheses of the corporate group, mother identity, and gendered-role expectations, which are instrumental to understanding the social context in which the legacy of the Confucian culture interacts with the knowledge-based neoliberal economy to revive in-law conflicts. Divorced-couple data are from in-depth interviews and court rulings, and their analysis illustrates the trajectories of marital breakdown.

The findings provide support for the hypotheses. Parents, especially mothers, who heavily invested time and money in their children’s education and career building meddle in their marriages in hopes to ensure the best returns to their investment. Normative prescriptions of gendered roles provide references for the parents regarding the roles of their children and children-in-law, and the gaps between their expectations and perceived reality trigger parental meddling and in-law conflicts. Adult children who are indebted to the parents for their status formation may acquiesce to the parental intervention.

In the traditional patriarchal family, in-law conflicts were restricted to mother- and daughter-in-law relationships, but are now extended to mother- and son-in-law relationships, reflecting a paradoxical twist in gender-role expectations. This chapter suggests that heavy parental investment in their children can have an unexpected consequence increasing the probability of adult children’s marital disruption.

Women perform the majority of household labour in many families around the world. However, the unequal division of household labour does not lead to dissatisfaction among women. In the present study, the author introduced the intergenerational household assistance to understand married women’s and men’s satisfaction with division of household labour in China, in addition to three major theoretical perspectives in studies of western families (i.e., relative resources, time availability, and gender role ideology). Logistic regression analyses on a nationally representative dataset (the Second Wave Survey of Chinese Women’s Social Status) were performed to study this topic. Consistent with studies in the West, the results show that relative resources, time availability, and gender ideology were associated with married Chinese women’s satisfaction, while married Chinese men’s satisfaction was only associated with time availability (the household labour done by them and their wives). Importantly, married women with parents-in-law’s household assistance tend to be more satisfied than those with help from their parents. The findings demonstrate that Chinese marriages are intertwined with intergenerational relationships and suggest that it is important to take into account of the influence of intergenerational relationships in studies of Chinese marriages.

This contribution explores intergenerational relations and negotiations in Viet-German families. Due to family members' diverging socialization experiences in Vietnam and Germany as well as social ties in both societies, we assume that different ideas of intergenerational relations and mutual obligations may be found in Viet-German families. We distinguish between interdependent and independent intergenerational patterns of solidarity. Based on interviews with young adults – the descendants of Vietnamese migrants – four thematic areas are identified, in and through the shaping of which intergenerational relations are continuously negotiated at the face of migration-related challenges. These are (1) a childhood for the future, (2) reciprocal support, (3) individualization of family members and intimization of the family and (4) boundaries against kinship and the Vietnamese community. Our analysis reveals the emergence of a new, hybrid pattern of intergenerational solidarity, for which we suggest the term “individualized interdependence.” The role of young adults in the elaboration of this new family order stands out.