The impact of family communication patterns on filial responsibilities among college students: a chain mediation model of perceived social support and gratitude

To examine the impact of family communication patterns on college students’ filial responsibilities and the mechanisms underlying this relationship, a survey was administered to 800 students at a university in Fujian Province, employing the Family Communication Patterns Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, Gratitude Scale, and Filial Responsibility Scale. The findings indicated the following: (1) The conversation orientation of family communication patterns (the degree of conversation orientation, which influences the extent to which family members can comfortably and freely discuss a wide range of topics) significantly and positively predicts college students’ filial responsibility, whereas the conformity orientation (the degree of conformity orientation, which determines how closely family members adhere to the family’s homogeneous beliefs, values, and hierarchical structure) significantly and negatively predicts it; (2) Perceived social support partially mediates the relationship between the conformity orientation of family communication patterns and students’ filial responsibility; (3) Gratitude also partially mediates the relationship between both the conversation and conformity orientations of family communication patterns and filial responsibility; (4) Moreover, perceived social support and gratitude together exert a chain-mediating effect between the conversation and conformity orientations of family communication patterns and college students’ filial responsibility. In conclusion, both the conversation and conformity orientations of family communication patterns directly influenced college students’ filial responsibilities, as well as exerted an indirect influence through perceived social support and gratitude.