Filial piety—children’s respect, duty, and care toward parents—is often misconceptualized despite its role in intergenerational relationships and aging societies globally. We challenge three prevalent misconceptions about filial piety: that it solely involves unwavering obedience to parents, that it exists only in Asian cultures, and that it exclusively concerns caregiving to older adult parents. Drawing from cross-cultural and developmental research, we propose an integrative framework incorporating three main dimensions (i.e., beliefs and values, affect, and behaviors) that evolve across historical time and developmental stages. This framework conceptualizes filial piety as a dynamic and multidimensional construct that varies systematically across sociocultural contexts, age groups, and historical periods. We conclude with directions for future research, specifically focusing on distinguishing dimensions of filial piety, methodological approaches for studying these developmental trajectories, and implications for understanding intergenerational relationships in context.

中文翻译：

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跨社会文化背景和寿命的孝道


孝道——孩子对父母的尊重、责任和关怀——经常被误解，尽管它在全球代际关系和老龄化社会中发挥着作用。我们挑战关于孝道的三个普遍误解：孝道只涉及对父母的坚定服从，它只存在于亚洲文化中，以及它只涉及照顾年长的成年父母。借鉴跨文化和发展研究，我们提出了一个综合框架，其中包含跨历史时间和发展阶段演变的三个主要维度（即信仰和价值观、情感和行为）。该框架将孝道概念化为一种动态的、多维的结构，它在不同社会文化背景、年龄组和历史时期中系统地变化。我们总结了未来研究的方向，特别关注区分孝道的维度、研究这些发展轨迹的方法，以及在上下文中理解代际关系的意义。