Parents

A term referring to one's father and mother who gave birth to and raised one, the most basic family relationship responsible for nurturing, protection, and socialization, and a concept with legal and

Parents (부모님)

Overview

Parents (부모) is a term collectively referring to the father and mother who gave birth to and raised an individual, and is the most basic family relationship responsible for forming personal identity and reproducing society across generations. Beyond biological parental ties, they perform social roles of nurturing, protection, and education, and in most legal systems they are granted both the duty to support their children and the rights of parental authority/guardianship. In East Asian societies including Korea, combined with the culture of filial piety (hyo, 효), it carries ethical and normative meaning beyond a mere blood relationship.

Main Content

Concept and Scope

Parent is a collective term encompassing father and mother, and the honorific form is 부모님. In addition to biological parents, it is sometimes used as an expanded concept including adoptive parents, caregivers, grandparents, foster guardians, etc., who are responsible for actual rearing. Recently, with the development of assisted reproductive technology, cases in which genetic parents, the surrogate who carries and gives birth, and legal parental authority holders are separated are increasing, diversifying the definition of parents.

Roles and Functions

The functions of parents are broadly divided into survival/protection, formation of emotional attachment, socialization and normative education, economic support, and transmission of resources and values between generations. In developmental psychology, early attachment relationships in particular are considered to have a decisive influence on lifelong emotional stability and interpersonal relationship patterns. Parents are also channels through which children receive language, culture, and class capital, placing them at the center of discussions on the reproduction of intergenerational inequality.

Legal Status and Responsibilities

The Civil Act of the Republic of Korea grants parental authority holders the right of representation and consent for legal acts concerning the child's status and property, while also imposing the duty of protection and education. Article 974 of the Civil Act stipulates the duty of support between lineal blood relatives and their spouses, and if the duty of support is not fulfilled, a claim for performance is possible. The Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Child Abuse Crimes, the Child Welfare Act, etc. set limits on parental authority and provide grounds for state intervention through the system of loss/restriction of parental authority.

Views of Parents in East and West

In Confucian cultural spheres, filial piety has been regarded as the highest virtue, emphasizing respect for and support of parents. In contrast, the modern Western notion of the family tends to define the parent-child relationship relatively horizontally, centered on children's independence and individual rights. However, both traditions share the commonality that the parental role accompanies social approval and normative expectations.

Changes in Relationships and Psychology

The relationship between adult children and parents undergoes a role reversal in which the direction of care is reversed. Parents' aging, illness, and bereavement of a spouse simultaneously impose caregiving burdens and emotional tasks on children. In psychology, unresolved attachment injuries are seen as potentially leading to parentification or estrangement. In addition, parents' own identities are reconstructed along with their children's independence, and adaptation during the so-called empty nest period is treated as an important developmental task.

Cultural Representations

In literature, film, and drama, parents are repeatedly used as archetypal material for sacrifice and authority, conflict and reconciliation. In modern and contemporary Korean literature, maternal devotion and paternal absence often appeared as motifs symbolizing the experiences of the industrialization generation, and recently works narrated from the perspective of children caring for parents have increased.

Recent Trends

With super-aging and the increase in single-person households, the trend of responsibility for supporting parents shifting from children to the state and market has become clear. Long-term care insurance for the elderly, home care services, care robots, etc. are becoming infrastructure that shares the burden of support.
Amid the low birth rate trend, discussions dealing with the psychological burden of the parental role have spread. Postpartum depression, parenting stress, and career interruption have emerged as major policy agendas.
As generative AI and digital devices penetrate deeply into the child-rearing environment, parental media mediation and children's digital literacy education have emerged as new parenting tasks.
As diverse family forms such as unmarried, cohabiting, adoptive, and remarried families increase, legislative discussions continue on distinguishing legal parents from actual caregivers.
As generational conflict and disputes over inheritance and gifts increase, demand for inheritance planning and family counseling to settle monetary relationships between parents and children in advance has grown.
As the gender imbalance in care work is reexamined, fathers' participation in child-rearing and improvement of parental leave systems are being discussed as major tasks.