What Determines the Parent-Child Relationship?: Filial Piety, Economic Dependency, or Intimacy "CANCELLED"

Family structure and culture have been rapidly changing in Korea.  Whether to follow traditional values or individual autonomy seems to be the crucial issue of family problems in the modern world. Previous studies explored the significance of various factors such as filial piety, autonomy, communication, intimacy, etc. in a parent-child relationship.  But, what factors can positively effect on the building-up of a harmonious parent-child relationship? Previous studies did not examine the significance of such factors that may contribute to and account for the harmonious parent-child relationship.

This research aims to answer the question what factor influences most positively on harmonious parent-child relationship during the process of child’s future decision making of selection of a spouse, which is still the greatest family issue in Korea.  Therefore, we (research team) conducted an online survey of 262 college students in Seoul in 2013.  The survey questionnaire includes parental economic support, psychological intimacy, communication, social network, filial piety as the traditional Confucian-family value, and other socio-demographics. Findings report that the communication, intimacy, social network are all positively related to harmonious parent-child relationship.  However, parental economic support for children, on the side of the child, does not appear significantly.  This research, thus, implies that the communicative rationality and social intimacy based on reciprocity is far more important for buidling up a hamornious family than family duties stemming from traditional values or instrumental rationality which may force one to pursue only individual interest in a family culture.