Abstract
Objective: The present study assessed the influence of family cohesion and sense of filial responsibility on the sense of socialization of elderly care, based on data of university students and parents in Japan and China. Methods: The hypothesized causal model was tested using constitutive equation modeling of 636 university students and 368 parents in Japan and 480 university students and 473 parents in China. Results and discussion: The goodness of fit to the causal model was generally satisfactory in both Japan and China and was statistically supported. In Japan, a sense of socialization of elderly care was found to be negatively associated with family cohesion and a sense of responsibility for instrumental or emotional support for parents. A poor sense of filial responsibility was found to be associated with an increased sense of socialization of elderly care. In China, a sense of socialization of elderly care was found to negatively associated with a sense of responsibility for instrumental support for parents. In both countries, university students had a stronger sense of filial responsibility than parents. Japanese parents had the least sense of responsibility for instrumental support for parents and the strongest sense of socialization of elderly care. The present study discovered a causal relationship in which family cohesion is associated with a sense of socialization of elderly care via a sense of responsibility for instrumental support for parents in both countries.
