DOI:10.6129/CJP.202003_62(1).0001
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2020, Vol.62, No.1, 1-30

Intergenerational Attachment Relationship and Its Effect on Elderly Life Adaptation: Adult Children’s Filial Belief and Relating Autonomy as Antecedents

Wu, Chih-Wen（Department of Human Development and Family Studies, National Taiwan Normal University）；Yeh, Kuang-Hui（Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University；Institue of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan）

Abstract

The quality of intergenerational relationship has been identified as a critical factor for elderly life adaptation. Recently research has shown adult child is an important attachment figure for elderly seeking security supports and reducing worry in old age. However, to date, little is known about the antecedent factors of intergenerational attachment bonding and few studies have been conducted by using intergenerational dyadic data to test hypotheses. In accordance with the value of filial piety in Chinese family, this study investigated that adult children’s endorsement of filial belief and relating autonomy capacity, which maintain parent-child connection and practice filial piety, contributes to perceive the extent to which children can be securely attached and its further effect on elderly life adaptation. Analyzing intergenerational dyadic data constituted by 100 adult children (mean age was 37.88 years; 60% female) and 158 elderly parents (mean age was 66.99 years; 52% female) with hierarchical liner modeling, the main results showed that (1) adult children’s endorsement of reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety belief, as well as their relating autonomy, facilitated elderly parents perceiving the extent to which children can be securely attached; (2) elderly parents perceiving higher extent to which children can be securely attached was associated with lower frequency of depression but higher meaning of life and satisfaction of personal freedom; and (3) adult children’s reciprocal filial belief, authoritarian filial belief, and relating autonomy, decreased their elderly parents’ frequency of depression but increased meaning of life and satisfaction of personal freedom, through the mediating effect of elderly parents perceiving the extent to which children can be securely attached. The theoretical implications of these findings, as well as limitations and future directions, were discussed comprehensively at the end.

Keywords: Elderly Life Adaptation, Filial Piety Belief, Intergenerational Attachment Relationship, Relating Autonomy