家庭的養老與育幼功能：中、日、台與歐盟社會的比較研究

The Geriatric and Nurturing Functions of Family: A Comparative Study of China, Japan, Taiwan, and the EU Member States

本文旨在分析比較不同社會經濟發展程度下，家庭的養老與育幼功能。分析歐盟、日本、台灣、及大陸調查資料發現，國民平均所得較高國家、或自由開放生活方式較為盛行的北歐社會，家庭的養老功能較為薄弱：有較低比例的人認為子女應該與失能父母同住以照料其生活起居、較少的人認為養老費用應由家庭來負責、也有較低比例的人同意「為人子女者無論如何均應敬愛父母」的說法；相對的，亞洲及南歐諸國則仍保有相當高的家庭養老功能。在家庭的育幼功能上，至少將近六成以上的受訪者認為「為人父母者應盡己所能照顧子女」，有至少七成以上的受訪者認為養育子女是重要的，但卻有更高比例的受訪者認為與伴侶同居共住是重要的。

This paper aims to investigate the geriatric and nurturing functions of families in societies with various levels of socioeconomic development. Comparing empirical data from EU member states, Japan, China, and Taiwan, the author found that countries with higher GNP per capita or more liberal countries tended to offer less familial support for geriatric care. Respondents from those countries expressed a lower willingness to co-reside with disabled parents, less believe that family should pay for the cost of elder care, and fewer respondents agreed that one should respect parents with no reservation. Respondents from Asian and South European countries however, expressed generally opposite point of view. In addition, the data also shows that about 60% of the total number of respondents agree that parents’ duty is to do their best for their children even at the expense of their own well-being, about 70% of the respondents believe that having children is important, and more than 70% of the respondent believe that living with a partner is important.