Literature Review for My Multicultural Psych Seminar

Between classes, lab work, music, and getting sick more times than I’d like to admit, life has kept me on my toes. But as the semester wraps up, I’ve finally had a moment to breathe (just a little) and reflect on some of the work I’ve done.

For my final project in Multicultural Psychology, I wrote a literature review, which is basically a deep dive into existing research on a specific topic. In my case, it was about the concept of filial piety and its psychological effects on second-generation Asian immigrant youth in the U.S. It’s not just a summary of sources, but an analysis of how different studies connect, where they diverge, and what insights they offer when put in conversation with each other.

This paper took a lot of time and thought, but I’m proud of how it turned out, especially since this topic felt pretty personal and culturally significant. I wanted to share it here, both as a record of what I’ve been working on and as a way to reflect on how far I’ve come in understanding the complexities of culture, identity, and family.

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The Effects of Filial Piety Responsibilities on

Asian Immigrant Youth & Young Adults

Introduction: Filial Piety from Confucian Roots to Immigrant Realities

Across time and around the world, “family” has been the most enduring social unit, embedded with distinct cultural norms regarding obligation, hierarchy, and intergenerational customs. In many East Asian cultures, Confucian doctrines have provided a framework for the parent-child relationship that is both moral and practical. Filial piety, or xiao (孝), is one of the core values that has historically guided the conduct of younger generations toward their elders. Embedded within it are the expectations of reverence for parents, prioritization of family needs over individual desires, and lifelong obligations to ensure parental well-being, both materially and emotionally (Xiao et al., 2024). These values go beyond abstract rules; they carry a sense of pressure in decisions about education, career, marriage, and caregiving that span generations. As a result, filial piety shapes not only behavior but also identity formation and moral reasoning from childhood onward (Suzuki, 2000). 

In sociology and anthropology, filial piety is studied not only as a cultural value but also as a lens through which broader questions of migration, modernization, and intergenerational continuity—the transmission of characteristics or psychological outcomes from one generation to the next—are examined. With globalization and transnational migration, the movement of Asian families into Western societies, which are more individualistic, creates a new space in which these values are reinterpreted and renegotiated. Immigrant families frequently experience what Portes and Rumbaut (2001) refer to as ‘segmented assimilation’, where cultural retention coexists with partial integration into the host country. In this process, children often become cultural brokers, mediating between their parents' expectations and their own lived realities, which are shaped by schools, peers, and media within the host culture (Lee, 2012). In these contexts, filial piety becomes a site where competing norms about autonomy and obligation collide.

This division can create cognitive and emotional tensions. Second-generation Asian youth in particular often report experiencing guilt, pressure, or resentment in navigating filial expectations that conflict with their own developmental needs or host-cultural norms (Vuong, 2010; Suzuki, 2000). These values remain strong in Asian immigrant families despite appearing old-fashioned in individualistic countries. The host culture places importance on individual autonomy, independence, and self-actualization, which may clash with these values. In this literature review, findings across psychology, social work, and migration studies are evaluated to argue that filial piety, when transplanted into the context of Western individualism, functions not only as a moral obligation but as a psychological stressor. 

The review also highlights the significance of reciprocal filial modes and culturally sensitive mental health interventions as avenues for mitigating harm and fostering healthy acculturation. By placing filial piety within the broader ecology of immigrant adjustment, this paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how deeply rooted cultural scripts interact with systemic forces in shaping psychosocial development.

Conceptual Framework: The Dual Filial Piety Model & Its Outcomes

Filial piety has been theorized as a dynamic psychosocial construct, particularly in the context of immigrants. The Dual Filial Piety Model, developed by Yeh and Bedford (2004), provides a fundamental structure for differentiating between reciprocal filial piety (RFP), which demonstrates warmth and gratitude through voluntary care, and authoritarian filial piety (AFP), which requires obedience and submission to parental authority in all contexts. While RFP has been consistently linked to positive psychosocial functioning across cultural contexts (Wong, 2024), AFP has shown more mixed—and in immigrant settings, often harmful—impacts on mental health (Xiao et al., 2024; Vuong, 2010).

In immigrant families, these filial schemas are not merely internal values but filtered through acculturative processes that recontextualize their meaning and salience. The levels of enculturation and acculturation often operate differently between generations (Lee, 2012). First-generation parents, especially as they arrive in the host country as adults, may maintain traditional interpretations of filial obligation. In contrast, their children, shaped by individualistic norms of the host culture, begin to question those obligations (Kim & Silverstein, 2020). This dissonance leads to an acculturation gap (Lee, 2012), which has been linked to heightened intergenerational conflict, particularly in decisions related to education, occupation, and caregiving (Lee, 2012; Suzuki, 2000).

Studies confirm that the acculturation gap exacerbates intergenerational misunderstanding in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino American families (Montayre et al., 2022; Lee, 2012; Vuong, 2010). For example, Lee (2012) found that Chinese American adolescents reporting high endorsement of RFP—but not AFP—could better negotiate parent-child differences and maintain relational closeness despite cultural gaps. Conversely, authoritarian expectations, especially around academic success or co-residence, were associated with increased depressive symptoms and familial tension (Kim & Silverstein, 2020; Suzuki, 2000).

Moderating Factors: The Role of Gender and Socioeconomic Status

The burden of filial responsibility is also deeply gendered and classed. Montayre et al. (2022) found that daughters in immigrant families, regardless of birth order, often bore disproportionate emotional and logistical caregiving responsibilities. This gendered asymmetry reflects deeper Confucian and patriarchal traditions where women’s worth is tied to caregiving responsibilities and sacrificing one’s desires over family matters. In immigrant contexts, daughters are often praised for their filial devotion but receive less permission to renegotiate expectations or assert their autonomy. As a result, at this intersection, women are more vulnerable to internalized guilt, depressive symptoms, and being trapped in their caregiving role (Montayre et al., 2022; Wong, 2024). 

Similarly, economic instability among immigrant families may make the expectation of material support for aging parents difficult to fulfill, as second-generation youth pursue higher education or careers at odds with parental timelines or visions. Children from lower SES backgrounds often face higher filial demands despite having fewer resources to fulfill them. The pressure to provide financially, co-reside, or sacrifice career mobility for parental care contradicts the other set of expectations, which aim to achieve a better standard of life through a successful career, thereby deepening the cognitive dissonance of the individual (Kim & Silverstein, 2020). In these cases, failure to meet filial obligations is not due to neglect but to structural barriers. Yet, the psychological burden of the perceived failure persists. 

Gender and class, therefore, can exacerbate the strain of authoritarian filial expectations. On the other hand, these could be moderators that buffer the adverse effects of filial piety (e.g., a higher SES background could mean that the child can provide better care and satisfy their parents more easily, while also having the space to attain their personal goals). These factors can shape the terms under which adaptation, negotiation, or resistance to maintaining filial piety becomes possible.

Cognitive Dissonance: The Psychological Cost of Authoritarian Filial Piety

Returning to the Dual Filial Piety Model, studies consistently demonstrate that RFP (Reciprocal Filial Piety) is associated with psychological resilience, stronger family cohesion, and even enhanced self-esteem among second-generation Asian Americans. This may be that the children have a stronger sense of identity within the family and a clear goal they want to attain (e.g., to be successful and take care of the family who have supported them).  In contrast, AFP (Authoritarian Filial Piety) tends to correlate with elevated levels of stress, depressive symptoms, and internalized guilt—particularly when individuals are caught between the inescapable pull of family duty and the normative autonomy of their host culture (Wong, 2024; Kim & Silverstein, 2020; Suzuki, 2000).

Wong’s (2024) study on second-generation Chinese Americans is one of the clearest demonstrations of this dichotomy. Using cluster analysis on survey data, Wong identified four filial modes—Reciprocal, Authoritarian, Balanced, and Non-Filial—based on individuals’ endorsement of RFP and AFP. His findings were striking: those in the Balanced mode (high RFP and moderate AFP) reported the highest levels of family cohesion, satisfaction, and emotional well-being. Participants in the Reciprocal-only mode also reported positive psychosocial outcomes, particularly in terms of identity coherence and self-regulation. By contrast, those in the Authoritarian mode (high AFP, low RFP) showed elevated distress, dissatisfaction in familial roles, and suppressed emotional expression. These results suggest that the emotional attachment and willingness of filial acts, not merely their occurrence, influence mental health outcomes.

The mechanism here is both structural and emotional. In many Asian immigrant families, youth grow up in dual social worlds: at home, they are expected to be obedient, modest, and loyal to the family, while in school and peer environments, they are encouraged to be independent, assertive, and autonomous. This leads to acculturative dissonance, where cultural values from the heritage and host societies conflict (Berry, 2006). In Vuong’s (2010) study of Chinese American adults, the most significant levels of work-family conflict and psychological distress were not found in those who rejected filial values outright, but in those who internalized AFP while living lives incompatible with its demands, i.e., those attempting to succeed in careers or marriages that were misaligned with their parents’ rigid expectations.

This cognitive and emotional dissonance is often accompanied by feelings of guilt, especially in households driven by AFP. Xiao et al. (2024), in a concept analysis of filial caregiving among Chinese and Chinese American families, found that adult children frequently reported guilt for not fulfilling the affective expectations, such as “physical proximity”, “constant deference”, or unquestioned compliance with parental desires, instead of failing to meet basic caregiving needs. This guilt persisted even when children objectively provided high levels of care or support. The unattainable standard created by AFP led parents to view any form of negotiation as a moral failure while measuring love through obedience.

This dynamic bears resemblance to the Pygmalion effect, a psychological phenomenon in which individuals internalize and enact the expectations placed upon them. In the context of authoritarian filial piety, children are not merely responding to external rules—they are shaped by them at a cognitive level. The expectation to be self-sacrificing, obedient, and unquestioningly devoted becomes a psychological script that many Asian immigrant children internalize early and deeply. As with Pygmalion dynamics, these expectations can drive performance and compliance, but at a cost: the child’s self-worth becomes contingent on fulfilling these culturally sanctioned roles, even when they conflict with personal well-being or the host culture's values (Md-Yunus et al., 2017).

Counterpoint: Effect of Cultural Norms on AFP Outcomes

Not all scholars fully agree that authoritarian filial piety necessarily leads to adverse outcomes. Research indicates that AFP can provide psychological structure, promote clear role definition, and reduce ambiguity in family expectations under certain situations. Chen et al. (2016) discovered that in Taiwanese families, AFP was associated with higher reported levels of family cohesion and stability, particularly when combined with supportive parenting. Similarly, Yan and Chen (2018) found positive associations between AFP and life satisfaction in elderly Taiwanese populations. However, these findings are rooted in relatively homogeneous cultural contexts where AFP aligns with broader social norms. Once these dynamics are translated into Western, individualistic settings, these associations appear to weaken or reverse.

What these counterexamples highlight is not the universal value of AFP but its cultural contingency. In societies where obedience to elders is a shared norm, reinforced by peers, institutions, and legal matters, AFP may be experienced as normative and even comforting. However, in immigrant contexts, where children are simultaneously immersed in host cultures emphasizing autonomy and equality, AFP becomes a moral and psychological outlier. It asks of individuals what their peers are not asked, and it demands forms of respect that may no longer be sought after in their social setting. This mismatch—not the value itself—generates the stress.

Clinical research supports this interpretation. Hsu and Wang (2011) demonstrated, in their culturally adapted solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) model, that helping clients reframe their filial responsibilities from authoritarian scripts toward reciprocal values significantly reduced their psychological burden. In their case studies with Taiwanese clients, individuals who initially adhered to rigid interpretations of AFP—believing that even setting boundaries conflicted with filial responsibilities—were able to reinterpret their roles through a lens of mutual care and intentional choice. Over time, this shift promoted not only personal well-being but also improved family communication. The goal is to distinguish between forms of filial piety that restrict versus those that enable adaptive functioning.

This reframing is consistent with the findings from studies on community engagement among parents. Kim and Silverstein (2020) found that among older Chinese immigrants in the United States, community center engagement moderated the adverse effects of “low perceived filial support” (i.e., when the parents feel that their children are not adequately demonstrating culturally expected behaviors). Those who were able to find alternative sources of validation and relational belonging experienced fewer depressive symptoms even when their adult children did not meet traditional filial benchmarks. This highlights that when AFP fails or becomes too rigid, it is not only children who suffer, but parents as well. Flexible interpretations of filial responsibility, supplemented by community or institutional supports, appear to promote better outcomes across generations.

In summary, the divergent outcomes associated with RFP and AFP provide strong evidence that filial piety is neither inherently protective nor harmful, but rather becomes psychologically damaging in immigrant contexts when it is rooted in authoritarian rigidity rather than reciprocal choice. Reciprocal filial piety can serve as a source of cultural continuity, meaning-making, and intergenerational bonding. Authoritarian filial piety, however, when enforced without room for negotiation, creates an unattainable moral duty for immigrant youth. In these contexts, what was once a virtue becomes a source of chronic dissonance, guilt, and identity fragmentation. Meaningful interventions, whether clinical, educational, or familial, must begin with recognizing this crucial distinction.

Implications for Clinical Practices: Towards a More Culturally-Sensitive Therapy

Clinical psychology literature has started to recognize the family dynamics of filial piety. For mental health professionals, the findings point to an urgent need to distinguish between culturally grounded values and psychologically harmful dynamics. Too often, Western-trained clinicians view intergenerational obligation through the lens of parentification without recognizing the deeply rooted norms of the heritage culture that makes such roles feel both morally and emotionally inescapable for clients (Hsu & Wang, 2011). When therapists deem the concept of filial piety as toxic or even urge clients to reject their parents as a means of reclaiming autonomy, they may inadvertently intensify guilt, rupture family ties, or erase a core part of the client’s cultural identity. 

A more nuanced approach is necessary that supports boundary-setting and mental health while preserving the emotional truths underlying reciprocal care. As Hsu and Wang (2011) demonstrate, solution-focused models that honor clients’ intergenerational commitments while helping them reframe guilt and negotiate autonomy can facilitate a shift from guilt-ridden compliance to intentional, sustainable connection. In practice, this may involve supporting adult children in negotiating care arrangements, initiating difficult conversations with parents, or simply articulating new definitions of respect that extend beyond obedience. Such integrative approaches suggest that, rather than rejecting filial piety outright, clinicians should facilitate its reinterpretation, encouraging clients to shift from rigid AFP scripts toward more flexible, reciprocal frameworks.

As the Asian immigrant population continues to grow across the U.S. and other Western nations, clinicians and educators must confront the emotional toll of unresolved filial dissonance in second-generation youth and young adults. While much of the discourse on immigrant mental health centers on language access and discrimination, this evaluation reveals a more subtle but equally damaging form of distress: the confusion and identity fragmentation caused by conflicting expectations about what it means to be a ‘good child’. 

Different Fields At Play: What the Community and Family Can Do to Help

At the community level, immigrant organizations and schools play a crucial role. Many immigrant youth struggle to cope with filial stress in silence, fearing that speaking openly would make them appear selfish or ungrateful. Peer groups, educational curricula, and youth programs that normalize this tension and offer ways to mitigate isolation and shame. Creating a safe community to talk about the guilt or confusion with other Asian immigrant youth can be a pivot point for them to recognize and negotiate new norms. Just as importantly, outreach to first-generation parents may be needed. While the majority of current studies on filial piety emphasize the burden on children, elders can also experience grief and confusion as filial norms evolve. Interventions that include both generations or allow elders to reevaluate their expectations can foster mutual understanding and respect among all parties.

Finally, at the familial level, reframing filial piety as a relational dynamic rather than a fixed moral duty offers a way forward. Reciprocal filial values can be sources of profound meaning and intergenerational love. Many immigrant children want to care for their parents, not because they are forced to, but because they see it as part of a life well-lived. What they need is a more flexible, emotionally resonant version of filial piety. Ones that recognize love as a dialogue between the parent and the child, not a debt. 

Looking Outwards: Broader, Cross-Cultural Patterns in Filial Obligations

While filial piety is most often associated with Confucian traditions, it is not unique to East Asia. Anthropological and sociological research indicates that many cultures maintain strong expectations of adult children’s responsibility towards aging parents, although the content and structure of these expectations vary. For example, Latino families in the United States often emphasize the concept of familismo: a value system that stresses loyalty, interconnectedness, and caregiving within extended family networks (Kao et al., 2007). Like reciprocal filial piety, familismo is grounded in emotional closeness and mutual support, and studies have shown it to be positively correlated with life satisfaction and the quality of elder care when enacted voluntarily (Clark & Huttlinger, 1998).

However, similar tensions can emerge when these expectations are interpreted rigidly. Kao et al. (2007) developed and tested the Expectations of Filial Piety Scale with Mexican American populations, finding that “Americanization” was inversely related to traditional filial beliefs. Younger generations faced the same challenges as Asian youth when they tried to balance collectivist family values with individualistic social norms. These patterns suggest that filial dissonance is not uniquely Asian but rather a transnational phenomenon that emerges when traditional caregiving values confront neoliberal, independence-focused social structures.

Even in Western European contexts, where elder care is more heavily institutionalized, elements of filial expectations persist, often expressed in moral language about “being there” for parents or “not abandoning” them (Montayre et al., 2022). What differs is not the presence of filial sentiment but the infrastructure around it. For example, access to social care systems, cultural dialogues about aging, and the perceived legitimacy of seeking external support. These differences underscore that filial stress arises not from obligation alone, but from the degree to which individuals are structurally and socially supported or not in meeting those obligations.

Conclusion: Reimagining Filial Piety in Immigrant Lives

This literature review has argued that filial piety, particularly in its authoritarian form, becomes a source of psychological conflict and distress for many Asian immigrant youth navigating life in Western cultural contexts. Through comparative analyses of reciprocal and authoritarian filial modes and their respective outcomes, it has been explored that it is not the value of filial piety itself that causes harm, but its rigidity, emotional coerciveness, and disparity with the surrounding cultural environment.

Also, factors influencing the outcomes of filial piety among Asian immigrants are complex and multifaceted. The positive or negative impacts depend significantly on gender dynamics, socioeconomic status, degree of assimilation or acculturation, the type of support system available, the quality of familial relationships, and more. Gender and class disparities heighten tensions, while supportive family bonds and culturally sensitive mental health services lead to healthier outcomes. Recognizing and understanding these dynamics will enable clinicians to create nuanced interventions that combine traditional values with adaptive coping strategies to enhance healthier psychological outcomes among Asian immigrant families.

Filial piety functions as a stabilizing force, fostering resilience, familial intimacy, and cultural continuity when rooted in mutual respect and warmth. But when filial duty is imposed through authoritarian scripts that leave little space for personal agency or negotiation, it creates a moral dilemma that undermines psychological well-being and healthy adaptation to the host culture. These findings have immediate implications for clinical and community practices, as well as family dynamics, and will require culturally sensitive approaches that focus on the lived experiences of immigrant families.

Ultimately, this review calls for a reworking of the concept of filial piety. Filial care should not be abandoned, but reframed—made reciprocal, flexible, and context-sensitive. In doing so, one creates space for intergenerational relationships that are not rooted in guilt, but in love. Instead of being sustained by obligation alone, it is with mutual respect and understanding. In that reimagining lies the possibility of healing across generations, cultures, and selves.

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