Desire to Please Parents Motivates Kids at School
But study of U.S. and Chinese students finds sense of obligation wanes as American children age.
Children in both China and the United States who want to please their parents tend to do better at school, new research finds.
Yet in the United States, American kids’ drive to please their parents declines during early adolescence, while in China feelings of obligation toward parents stay strong and even grow as kids hit their teenage years.
Researchers attribute that to cultural differences—Americans view adolescence as a time in which teens assert their individualism, while the Chinese believe in “filial piety,” or the idea that it’s a child’s responsibility to bring honor to their families and repay their parents for the sacrifices they made in raising them.
That means for Chinese kids, becoming a teenager doesn’t mean rebelling or pulling away from family life, but becoming a more responsible member of it.
During early adolescence, “U.S. children feel less obligated toward their parents, and less concerned with
