Filial piety remains strong in Singapore

Three in four people reported giving a regular sum to their ageing parents, according to an online survey of 1,000 people commissioned by The Straits Times. Almost half of those who give money to their parents said they hand over $300 to $500 a month, on average. The survey, which was commissioned to find out how attitudes towards giving money to parents have changed over the generations, polled people across three generations: Gen Zers aged 18 to 26, millennials aged 27 to 42, and Gen Xers from 43 to 58. Overall, the findings suggest that filial piety remains strong in Singapore since it is the chief reason people give their parents money.

This affirmation of the customary basis of parental allowances bodes well for social continuity in an Asian society where intergenerational transfers work both ways: from parents who make untold sacrifices to see their wards succeed, to grateful children who reciprocate parental care with what they view as a moral responsibility, not an imposed obligation. That parental allowances are the norm speaks well of familial connections in a society where seniors, who are better off than their own seniors, are less likely to see their adult children as being a part of their retirement plans. When their children continue to provide nevertheless, they uphold traditional expectations of conduct that survive in even a highly competitive and stressful society that could have been marked by the young being tempted to look out for themselves instead of caring for their parents, too.