Behind Filial Piety: An Indigenous Study Of Intergenerational Relationship Among College Students In China

This paper explores the current interpretation of the traditional concept"filial piety"among college students and some domains regarding the status quo of parent-child relationships in China. This research seeks to investigate one often cited aspect of traditional"Chineseness"in its current application. Are students still committed to some traditional family commitments and identities, or are they constructing more individualized conceptions? What are the main factors contributing to that?To answer these questions, data was collected from students at a large university in Shandong Province. The results show that the frequency of communications with their parents has dropped, primarily due to their leaving home for college. The results also indicate that although filial piety remains an important concept in the eyes of college students, the current interpretation of filial piety as well as the status quo of parent-child relationship is much different from the traditional conceptions. The paper also aims to examine how their interpretations on filial piety might affect the careers as well as future family life.Filial Piety Scale is developed with good reliability and seven items are included. The degree of acceptance of filial piety in only child is higher than that in child with siblings as examinations of the means and the standard deviation of the two groups indicate that only child has substantially higher levels of filial piety than child with siblings. Only child are more committed to filial piety than child with siblings. The study also shed lights on relationships with–in-laws.