The Relationships between Family Support, Attachment Types in Adulthood and Attitudes towards Filial Responsibility among Three Generations of Arab and Jewish Men
The aim of the current study was to compare between three generations
groups of Arab and Jewish male’s attitudes towards filial responsibility. 121 university students, their
fathers (116) and their grandfathers (114), answered a self-report
questionnaire, which measured filial responsibility attitudes, type of
attachment; self-esteem; sense of mastery and, family support. Results revealed
ethnicity and religiosity differences as well as between-generations
differences regarding filial responsibility. An additional finding brought to
light the cross-generational differences in the relationship between the
attachment style in adulthood and the attitudes regarding filial
responsibility. The most important finding shows that the Arab male, especially
in the youngest generation, finds himself in a socio-psychological-internal
conflict between tradition and modernization regarding the family norms. Arab
society, in attitudes towards filial responsibility, is still traditional in
terms of its approach to the institutions of clan and, the men status within
the family. Thus, mostly among the elderly Arab Muslims.
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