Parental attitudes and expectations toward childrearing and filial piety: Harmony and conflict between two generations among Taiwanese families

Filial piety has been a central concept in guiding Chinese thought on childrearing. Unfortunately, the U. S. research literature has used instruments that do not give adequate attention to this concept. The purpose of this study was to examine harmony and conflict between generations among Taiwanese families both in Taiwan and in the United States. In this study, two key dependent variables, parental attitudes toward childrearing and toward filial piety, were chosen. Comparisons of the two key variables between paternal grandfathers and fathers as well as maternal grandmothers and mothers among Taiwanese families were presented. A survey was conducted both in Taiwan and in the United States. Two attitudinal scales, the Child Training Scale and the Filial Piety Scale, designed by Chinese researchers David Y. F. Ho and his colleague were selected. The fathers of six-year-old boys as well as the mothers of six-year-old girls from two Chinese school programs in Massachusetts, U. S. A. were surveyed. Paternal grandfathers and fathers of six-year-old boys as well as maternal grandmothers and mothers of six-year-old girls among three kindergartens and two elementary schools in Kaohsiung, Taiwan were also investigated. A total of 407 copies for the Taiwanese sample and 29 copies for the US sample were collected. Parental attitudes toward the Child Training Scale and the Filial Piety Scale were highly correlated. Difference of means for the three maternal groups on the two Scales was highly significant. Comparison of means on the FP Scale between the grandparents and the parents was significant in the Taiwanese sample. In addition, difference of means between the parents in the Taiwanese sample and the Taiwanese parents in the US sample was significant on both the CT Scale and the FP Scale. Associations between the respondents\u27 education, family structure, occupation or religion and their attitudes toward the two scales for the Taiwanese were also discussed