WHEN AMBIVALENCE AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY CROSSED ? EXAMINING AND THEORISING ADULT CHILDREN?S PERCEPTION OF CAREGIVING FOR ELDERLY PARENTS

Abstract

This study investigates the circumstances leading to decisions by families to seek legal resolution on parental financial support and examines how elder caregiving issues are perceived and negotiated by the adult children. Using constructivist grounded theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Chinese adult children who had received services at the Office of the Commissioner for Maintenance of Parents in Singapore. The findings resulted in the theorising of a framework on “Renegotiating Filial Piety by Chinese Adult Children”, which illustrated how the concept of filial piety cannot be viewed in a dichotomised way. Adult children face ambivalence in fulfilling their filial obligations and this is influenced by the strength of their relationship with parents and their interaction with social, cultural, legal and economic domains. The implications for social work in relation to building of inter-generational relationship, sibling ties and impact of changing family structures on filial obligations were discussed.