Differences in expectations and patterns of informal support for older persons in Hong Kong: Modification to filial piety

Abstract

Informal care provided by family has been the cornerstone for older persons in Hong Kong. Changes in the structure of Hong Kong family alter this supportive function, and changes in traditional filial piety values affect the nature of the care and support provided. This proposition was investigated by a quantitative study involving structural survey interviews of 390 older persons in Hong Kong. The findings show that there are discrepancies between expected and actual caring functions. Living arrangements and geographical proximity affect the needs for and provision of informal support. Financial support has compensated for inadequate personal care by adult children. There is evidence to show that informal support for the older persons is changing. Traditional Confucian filial piety is undergoing modification, perhaps erosion, implying ongoing changes in intergenerational relations in this modernized Asian society.

Filial Piety and Care for Elders: A Contested Confucian Virtue Reexamined

“…As children become adults, they should offer material supports (e.g., through co-residence, finances, and help with activities of daily living) and nonmaterial supports (e.g., respect, emotional caring, and companionship) for their aging parents. These responsibilities traditionally fall most heavily on the eldest son and his wife, with the daughter-in-law often being the primary caretaker, due to common traditional social patterns of patrilineality, patrilocal co-residence, and gender role divisions with men having more outof-home duties and women having more in-the-home duties (Chan, 2006;Hsueh, Hu, & Clarke-Ekong, 2008;Lee & Kwok, 2005;Ng, Phillips, & Lee, 2002). In a larger sense, filial piety is a way of life ( , xiao dao) characterized by devotion to parents and respect for elders generally (Ng et al, 2002).…”

Older adults as caregivers in Hong Kong

“…Most of these studies examine the value and practice of filial piety among adults in caring for their parents (see e.g. Ng et al 2002, Chow 2004, Lee and Kwok 2005a, 2005b, Cheung and Kwan 2009). According to traditional Chinese culture, having filial children was a 'pre-requisite to ageing well' (Chong et al 2006, p. 261).…”

“…According to traditional Chinese culture, having filial children was a 'pre-requisite to ageing well' (Chong et al 2006, p. 261). A general conclusion of these studies on family care is that industrialization, urbanization, educational attainment, changes in family structure and function, living arrangements, and rapid technological advancement have eroded the traditionally high status and position of older persons and undermined the practice of filial piety in providing family care of older persons (Ng et al 2002, Lee and Kwok 2005a, Lam 2006, Cheung and Kwan 2009. As the younger generations became better educated and enjoyed higher incomes and better standards of living, they grew apart from the older generations, who had little education, few skills, and spent most of their working lives in poorly paid, unskilled and semi-skilled jobs (Chi 2002, Cheng et al 2008.…”

“…Statistical trends tend to show less co-residence with adult children, and with the greater participation of younger women in the labour market, the burdens of care are more likely to fall on spouses (Long and Harris 2000). Similarly in Hong Kong, Lee and Kwok (2005a) suggest that the trend is for older persons to live alone or, if they were not widowed, to live with their spouses only and to depend on them for assistance. The 2006 Census statistics showed that the proportion of older persons living with spouse and children was 30.4% and those living with spouse only was 21.2% (Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department 2008).…”

Untitled

“…Lee and Kwok's (2005) study on the differences in expectations and patterns of informal support among 390 older persons showed that these elderly participants received relatively poor informal support from their adult children. Adult children were more willing to provide material rather than emotional or psychological support.…”