Filial Piety and Psychosocial Adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese Early Adolescents

• Published in: The Journal of early adolescence Vol. 30; no. 5; pp. 651 - 667
• Main Authors: Leung, Angel Nga-man, Wong, Stephanie Siu-fong, Wong, Iris Wai-yin, McBride-Chang, Catherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2010; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adjustment; Authoritarianism; Belief & doubt; Beliefs; Children & youth; Confucianism; Correlation; Early Adolescents; Elementary school students; Emotional Adjustment; Foreign Countries; Grade 5; Grade 6; Hong Kong; Interpersonal Competence; Life Satisfaction; Parent Child Relationship; Self Esteem; Social Adjustment; Social psychology; Teenagers; Well Being; Hong Kong; Hong Kong China; China; social competence; parent-adolescent relationships; self-esteem/self-worth; family; parenting
• ISSN: 0272-4316; 1552-5449
• DOI: 10.1177/0272431609341046

Is the Confucian concept of filial piety relevant for understanding contemporary Chinese children’s psychological well-being? This study of 231 Hong Kong Chinese fifth and sixth graders demonstrated that parental warmth and two facets of children’s filial piety belief were uniquely associated with life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social competence. Following the dual filial piety model, results distinguished children’s reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety beliefs. In particular, there were significant positive associations of reciprocal filial piety with life satisfaction and social competence and significant negative associations of authoritarian reciprocal filial piety with self-esteem and social competence, even statistically controlling for children’s ages, grade levels, and perceived parental warmth. Results suggested that children’s filial piety belief is a theoretically important aspect of Chinese values and beliefs that is uniquely associated with a variety of psychosocial adjustment variables and should be explored cross-culturally.