The impact of college students’ dual filial piety on filial practice: the mediating roles of filial perception and parent–child relationship

Background In the context of social transformation and the reconstruction of intergenerational ethics, this study examined whether reciprocal filial piety and authoritarian filial piety were associated with college students’ filial practice through filial perception and parent–child relationship. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 821 college students in Guizhou Province, China, using the Dual Filial Piety Scale, Parent–Child Relationship Scale, Filial Perception Scale, and Filial Practice Scale. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, bootstrapped mediation analysis, and structural equation modeling were used to examine the proposed associations. Results Reciprocal filial piety was positively associated with filial practice indirectly through parent–child relationship and filial perception. Authoritarian filial piety was negatively associated with filial practice indirectly through parent–child relationship, whereas its indirect path through filial perception was not statistically significant. In both models, the direct effects of filial piety on filial practice were not significant. Conclusions The findings provide cross-sectional evidence that dual filial piety is related to filial practice mainly through relational and cognitive pathways. Reciprocal filial piety was linked to more favorable parent–child relationship quality and stronger filial perception, whereas authoritarian filial piety was linked primarily to poorer parent–child relationship. These findings should be interpreted cautiously because the study used a cross-sectional design and a regionally bounded convenience sample.