Comparison of the Treatment of Aging Parents by Asians American and European Americans

Worldwide, with increase in life expectancy more women and men are experiencing the role of grandparent and length of occupancy in the role is increasing (Armstrong, 2003). However in America, after age 75, about 9 percent have difficulty carrying out activities of daily living (Berk, 2010). When considering the cultural approach of aging in late adulthood, we see that aging adults are treated differently depending on what community or cultural background they originated from. With the increase in life expectancy, many opportunities had been provided to psychologists to conduct research and practice with aging adults (APA, 2003). This has enabled many researchers to study aging in the United States and other countries. With those researches show that coping with aging parents especially in the United States, different cultural background are faced with different challenges, from which they have learned many ways to cope with the acculturation effects (PBS, n. d.). However the question still remains, does Americans deal with their aging parents differently than immigrants from other countries? To answer this question, I will examine a comparison between Asians American culture and the European American culture.

Although many other cultures treat their aging parents differently, but in this discussion, I will consider only the Asian American point of view of Korean and Chinese descendent. In Korea, parents are usually children's responsibility, but here, the system takes care of elderly (PBS, n. d.). Traditional Chinese culture links old age with seniority and assures old people a position of security and privilege in family and community. In Chinese culture, elders are at the center of a family gathering, or they hold a p...

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...y 80-year old mother. However we are spread out across four states, therefore she travel every few months to spend time with each one of us. With that, all of us are very aware of her health condition and medical needs. The practical way would be to put her in a nursing home, but our obligation to the filial piety would not let our acculturation overcome the need to let the system take care of her. But in the case of aging Chinese and Korean adults, Wong, Yoo, and Stewart (2003) observed that in the changing perspectives of family and social support, elderly felt that they were considered peripheral to the family, they were no longer authority figures as in the traditional society, therefore they were becoming more independent when it came to relying on their adult children. Regardless of those finding Chinese and Korean still regards the filial piety as ideal.