Parents vs. partners: Whom do individuals prioritize in decision making?

In everyday life, individuals often face decision-making dilemmas involving the balancing of the interests of close family members such as parents and partners. This conflict is particularly prominent in societies like China, which emphasize filial piety. While previous studies revealed a parental preference in zero sum contexts, the current study explored how Chinese adults make decisions between their parents and partners in non-zero-sum contexts. Participants ( N = 195, ages ranged from 19-53 years) completed the Columbia Card Task, in which participants needed to choose to flip a card (either a gain card or a loss card) or pass in two conditions: parent gains/partner losses and partner gains/parent losses. Particularly, the gains for one party did not necessarily mean equal losses for the other party. If participants prioritized one party, they would flip more often in the condition where that party was the beneficiary. We also examined whether age, gender, relationship stage, as well as relationship quality with parents and partner would moderate the preferences. Results indicated that Chinese adults did demonstrate a preference to prioritize their parents in non-zero-sum decision-making contexts. Moreover, only parent relationship quality significantly moderated the preference: individuals who had average to high levels of relationship quality with parents prioritized their parents, while those with worse relationships with parents considered both parents and partners equally. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of decision-making process between intergenerational and romantic relationships, shedding light on the complex interplay of cultural values and relationship dynamics in shaping adults’ relational priorities.