Filial piety and self-disclosure of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents: a familial context

Abstract

Objectives: The two studies investigated the influence of both traditional and modernized filial piety on self-disclosure of adolescents in Hong Kong. Study 1 tested Yang’s (1988) theory of filial piety and developed a revised scale. Study 2 examined the relationship between filial attitude and self-disclosure with the revised scale.

Methods: In Study 1, 186 university students completed a questionnaire that comprised of the Filial Piety Scale. Twenty filial piety items with the highest mean were extracted from the scale to develop the Revised Filial Piety Scale. In Study 2, 207 high school students completed the revised scale and a measure of self-disclosure.

Results: In Study 1, results of factor analysis showed that the 50 items failed to cluster into the 10 factors of filial piety. The results of both studies rejected the hypothesis that there was a significant difference between traditional and modernized filial piety. Both types of filial piety were found to have an impact on adolescents, for participants rated higher on some of the items on both types of filial piety. Study 2 revealed that: (1) adolescents seldom disclose, (2) adolescents disclose more often to mother than to father, and (3) females disclose more often than males. In addition, no correlation was found between filial piety and self-disclosure.

Discussion: Based on these results, it may be speculated that the concept of filial piety has been modified and that traditional and modernized filial piety can only be distinguished conceptually. In reality, people may not notice the minute modifications of the concept but rather, they may think filial piety is a unique construct. Different people may be filial at various degrees but may not be dimensionally different.