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Filial Responsibility

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Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Filial norms; Filial obligation; Filial piety; Filial responsibility expectations

Definition

Filial obligation is the obligation of children to defer to parental wishes and meet a parent’s needs. This role not only includes contact with parents, having shared living arrangements, and providing routine care, but also involves providing physical, informational, and emotional support and financial help, especially when parents reach old age. This responsibility also includes more comprehensive efforts to ensure a parent’s safety, health, emotional well-being, sociability, and continued integration in society through contact with the outside world (Schorr 1960; Caro 2014; Whyte 2004).

What Is Filial Responsibility?

Families provide psychological, social, and physical resources to family members throughout their lives, and family is especially important in an older adult’s later life. When physical, cognitive, or mental functions decline, family can provide assistance with ADL...

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Correspondence to Tomoko Wakui .

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Wakui, T., Cheng, ST. (2016). Filial Responsibility. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_45-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_45-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

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