Autonomy, Filial Piety, and Parental Authority: A Two-Year Longitudinal Investigation

Abstract

A 2-year longitudinal study was conducted to test 3 causal models about adolescent autonomy, filial piety, beliefs about parental authority, and obedience in terms of personal, prudential, and multifaceted issues. Four hundred and thirty-six students from 10 junior and senior high schools in Taiwan (boys, n = 223; senior high school, n = 211) participated in the study. Hypothesis I predicted that autonomy (individuating autonomy vs. relating autonomy) would positively correlate with beliefs about authority legitimacy and obligation to obey, but was not supported. Hypothesis 2 predicted that filial piety (authoritarian piety vs. reciprocal piety) would positively associate with authority beliefs, and was partially supported. Authoritarian piety showed the positive relation with authority beliefs. Hypothesis 3 predicted that beliefs about authority legitimacy and obligation to obey would positively associate with obedience, and was supported. Hypothesis 4 predicted that age might moderate the structure models across domains, but the results indicated that age did not moderate the structural model in the prudential and multifaceted domains. The overall findings of this study reveal that adolescent beliefs about authority serve as a mediator between authoritarian piety and obedience, suggesting that traditional piety still has an influence on parent-child interaction in today's society.

Intergenerational Influence on Adolescents' Proenvironmental Behavior

“…Because of the strong impact of traditional Chinese culture, adolescents usually have a high level of filial piety, resulting in them conforming to their parents' expectations (Liu, 2013). Therefore, parental normative influence will, in general, promote children's proenvironmental behavior, despite the fact that adolescents have the motivation to seek autonomy (Hoffman, 1984;Liu, 2013). Therefore, we proposed the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1.1: In a Chinese family, parents' informational social influence will have a positive influence on adolescents' proenvironmental behavior.…”

“…This is because according to the Chinese Confucian philosophy of filial piety, it is a virtue for adolescents to show respect for their parents. Because of the strong impact of traditional Chinese culture, adolescents usually have a high level of filial piety, resulting in them conforming to their parents' expectations (Liu, 2013). Therefore, parental normative influence will, in general, promote children's proenvironmental behavior, despite the fact that adolescents have the motivation to seek autonomy (Hoffman, 1984;Liu, 2013).…”

“…In Chinese culture Confucian filial piety, which is a virtue of respect for one's father and elders (Liu, 2013), plays an important role in how family dynamics work (Liu, 2013;Yeh, Yi, Tsao, & Wan, 2013). We aimed to show how adolescents in China perceive parental power, and the way that normative influence works in the Chinese cultural context.…”

Nurses' perceptions of health beliefs and impact on teaching and practice: a Q‐sort study

“…Filial piety refers to the respect and compliance children are expected to show their parents and older people (Yeh et al 2010); it requires that people respect and value their suggestions (Liu 2013). This applies also to health beliefs where the older generation's opinions are valued and frequently adopted uncritically (Cai et al 2016).…”

A família como contexto de desenvolvimento moral para crianças e adolescentes com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade

“…Além dos estudos realizados por Smetana e seus colaboradores, outros pesquisadores têm relacionado a legitimidade da autoridade parental à outros assuntos, tais como: a variabilidade na obediência dos adolescentes (Darling, Cumsille & Martínez, 2007); a percepção dos adolescentes sobre a legitimidade dos pais de controlar comportamentos acadêmicos dos filhos (Bernardo, 2010); as diferenças individuais nas crenças sobre a legitimidade da autoridade parental em pré-adolescentes (Kuhn & Laird, 2011); autonomia, piedade, crenças sobre a autoridade parental e obediência (Liu, 2013); interferência da legitimidade da autoridade parental sobre o comportamento do adolescente no tempo de lazer (Keijsers & Laird, 2014); as reações e sentimentos dos filhos referente ao controle e monitoramento dos pais e sua relação com a legitimidade da autoridade parental (LaFleur et al, 2016), entre outros.…”