Moral Beliefs About Filial Support, Work and Gender in Japan: A Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

For decades, Japanese governments have grappled with the issue how to formulate a policy response to population ageing and the rising need for long-term care. Public opinion can determine the borders to which reforms are feasible, but opinions about care for older persons have become increasingly diffuse during the second half of the twentieth century. We conduct latent class regression analyses on Japanese Generations and Gender Survey data (n = 8,636) to identify moral beliefs about care for older people. Taking multiple dimensions—filial support, work and gender—into account conjointly, we identify three clearly distinct ideals. In the patriarchal high family responsibility ideal, it is deemed the responsibility of the eldest sons to make sure that parents are cared for. Daughters are expected to take on the bulk of the care tasks and paid work is deemed primarily a task for men. In the gender egalitarian low family responsibility ideal, neither eldest sons, nor daughters are considered to carry substantial caring responsibility. Upward intergenerational support is expected to be financial, rather than instrumental and paid work is considered a task for women as well as men. In the neutral ideal, people tend to be rather reserved about issues regarding filial norms, work and gender. Adherence to the gender egalitarian low family responsibility ideal is strong among women, the young and the highly educated. Men, older persons and people with lower levels of education are, in turn, relatively likely to adhere to the patriarchal high family responsibility ideal.