Abstract
We applied the theoretical perspective of the dual filial piety model to consider the diversity of parent–child conflict resolution strategies in order to determine whether Chinese adolescents use strategies other than self-sacrifice to practice filial piety when in conflict with their parents. Study 1 utilized a cross-sectional design with 247 valid responses. The structural equation modeling analysis indicated that Taiwanese adolescents’ authoritarian filial piety (AFP) beliefs are positively related to use of a self-sacrifice strategy, and reciprocal filial piety (RFP) beliefs are positively related to use of compatibility and compromise strategies. Adolescents’ AFP and RFP beliefs are negatively related to use of utility and escape strategies. Study 2 applied a temporal separation procedure with a 1-year lag to remedy common method variance bias. Analysis of 1,063 valid responses replicated the findings of Study 1 and indicated that adolescents’ function-oriented appraisal of conflict can play a mediating role between RFP and the use of the compatibility and compromise strategies. These findings broaden the understanding of filial piety in modern Chinese societies and have implications for adolescents’ well-being and family life.
Highlights
Conflict with parents is quite common in adolescence (Laursen and Collins, 2009)
As cognitive appraisal has a crucial role in the resolution of interpersonal conflict (Murray et al, 2006; Yeh, 2012), we propose cognitive appraisal of parent–child conflict as a potential mediator to elaborate the mechanism between reciprocal filial piety (RFP) and adolescents’ use of compatibility and compromise strategies
For the father–child model, the model-fit was acceptable with χ2(316, N = 231) = 589.58, p < 0.001, χ2/df = 1.87, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.92, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.061, SRMR = 0.055, and all loadings were significant
Summary
Conflict with parents is quite common in adolescence (Laursen and Collins, 2009). Researchers have focused on the different strategies adolescents tend to use to resolve conflict with parents (e.g., Van Doorn et al, 2008), and on the antecedent factors such as parental behavior (e.g., Merolla and Kam, 2017) that could influence an adolescent’s decision to adopt a particular strategy. For Chinese families, filial piety (xiao), the core virtue of Confucian philosophy, advocates that children should pay attention to their relationship with their parents and fulfill their parents’ expectations, even when conflict arises (Ho, 1994; Chen et al, 2007). This perspective on filial piety has resulted in the common perception that Chinese adolescents in conflict with their parents ought to practice filial piety by sacrificing their own volition. We examined the effect of adolescents’ filial piety beliefs on their use of different conflict resolution strategies with two empirical studies. We examined adolescents’ functionoriented appraisal of conflict as a potential mediator between filial belief and conflict resolution strategy
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