Attitudes Toward ‘Filial Duty Contracts’ and ‘Anti-Unfilial Piety Bill’ Between Parents and Young Adult Children

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes toward ‘Filial Duty Contracts’ and ‘Anti-Unfilial Piety Bill’ among 210 college student children in young adulthood and 198 parents of college student children in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. We also compared the needs for ‘Filial Duty Contracts’ and ‘Anti-Unfilial Piety Bill’ between two-generation groups. The major findings were as follows: First, the five factors of required filial duty contract details were ‘physical support’, ‘emotional support’, ‘caregiving for sick parents’, ‘economic support’, and ‘normative duty’. Second, for the parent group, ‘emotional support’ was most required among the five categories of filial duty contract details, followed by ‘caregiving for sick parents’, ‘normative duty’, ‘physical support’, and ‘economic support’ in order. For the college student group, ‘caregiving for sick parents’ was most preferred filial duty contract details, followed by ‘economic support’, ‘emotional support’, ‘normative duty’, and ‘physical support’ in order. Both groups reported that ‘emotional support’ was a high requirement for filial duty contract details. Meanwhile, there were also differences between two-generation groups. The parent group more required ‘normative duty’ contract details than child group, while the child group more preferred ‘economic support’ and ‘caregiving for sick parents’ contract details than their counterpart. Finally, the parent group reported higher levels of needs for ‘Anti-Unfilial Piety Bill’ than the college student child group. The implications of the study results above are discussed for future study and legislation.