Abstract
The aim of the current study was to compare between three generations groups of Arab and Jewish male’s attitudes towards filial responsibility. 121 university students, their fathers (116) and their grandfathers (114), answered a self-report questionnaire, which measured filial responsibility attitudes, type of attachment; self-esteem; sense of mastery and, family support. Results revealed ethnicity and religiosity differences as well as between-generations differences regarding filial responsibility. An additional finding brought to light the cross-generational differences in the relationship between the attachment style in adulthood and the attitudes regarding filial responsibility. The most important finding shows that the Arab male, especially in the youngest generation, finds himself in a socio-psychological-internal conflict between tradition and modernization regarding the family norms. Arab society, in attitudes towards filial responsibility, is still traditional in terms of its approach to the institutions of clan and, the men status within the family. Thus, mostly among the elderly Arab Muslims.
Highlights
Findings revealed cultural-ethnicity differences between the Jewish and the Arab participants regarding the attitudes towards filial responsibility, attachment type in adulthood, family support, etc
Regarding the cultural-ethnicity differences, findings show that the Arab population reported the strongest positive attitudes toward filial responsibility among all three generations especially among the youngest generation
The Arab population was found to be with higher levels of family support in comparison to the Jewish two generations participants: the middle and the youngest generations
Summary
The “Filial responsibility” term is generally understood to refer to special duties that offspring must provide to their elderly parents beginning with the attitudes towards these obligations, services and specific actions of caring providing, etc. Most of the social gerontology studies of on offspring caring for their elderly parent have focused on the traditional role of daughters as the main provider [1] [2]. The general idea is that men, sons or husbands are too busy for those kinds of involvement. Research based on self-reports by elderly parents finds that adult children are more likely to provide care to parent of the same gender. There is evidence that sons are somewhat more likely than daughters to assist fathers with their daily functions [3]
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