Motivators and Inhibitors of Attitudes of Filial Obligation Toward Aging Parents

Data from interviews of adult children with elderly parents were used to investigate motivators and inhibitors of attitudes of filial obligation. Revealed was that obligation is not simply a product of affection but that the degree of obligation is also explained by such structural and demographic factors as distance and role conflict. It was discovered that associations of predictor variables with filial obligation vary by parent type (mother, father, mother-in-law, or father-in-law) and by gender of the adult child.