Reverence and Reciprocity in Prioritization of Care to a Parent: The Role of Cultural Ecologies and Implications for Decolonizing Relationality.

This article investigates how cultural ecologies influence relational priorities, specifically the tendency to prioritize care for a mother over a spouse, through the lens of the Confucian concept of filial piety. Drawing on five studies and two meta-analyses involving participants from the United States, China, and diverse racial backgrounds, the research finds that individuals in interdependent cultural ecologies—characterized by embeddedness and low residential mobility—tend to prioritize care for mothers, mediated primarily by authoritarian filial piety, which emphasizes obedience and reverence toward parents. Conversely, participants in independent cultural ecologies—marked by high residential mobility and relational freedom typical of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) settings—prioritize conjugal relationships over parental care. The findings challenge dominant psychological assumptions that prioritize romantic relationships as universally normative and highlight the importance of cultural context in shaping relational obligations, contributing to decolonizing psychological perspectives on love and care.