在現代化與都市化的影響過程中，臺灣社會的家庭結構實質上已出現明顯之變遷現象，此一變遷可能意味著社會正在經歷一場重大的內在轉變；亦即包含人與人之間互動關係，尤其是親人間關係的轉變。固然家庭結構與老年父母是否同住密不可分，但是實際的同住經驗及其代表的家庭結構變遷是否影響一般人對老年父母的奉養態度仍缺乏較完整之比較研究。過去相關的研究或侷限於以婦女樣本為主之資料，或將此主要概念視為中介變項；由於奉養父母涉及傳統孝道規範與實際資源問之協調，故需要詳加探討，尤其是尚未步入老年階段者對於父母奉養態度之差異，對未來之發展趨勢更有重要的意含。 本文就1995年「經濟發展與婦女家庭地位：臺灣的家庭結構、婦女就業型態、與家庭權力結構之關聯J(國科會研究計畫NSC83-0301-H-001-064； NSC84-2411 H-001-018)之全省性面訪調查資料和焦點團體訪談紀錄，深入檢視目前臺灣社會 實際的老年奉養方式，以及一般人基於不同立場的考量所表達的對於老年奉養方式的態度與偏好。研究結果顯示，父母和已婚子女同住仍然占最多數，由子女提供生活費來源也是較普及的經濟奉養方式。至於由不同立場表達對老年奉養態度方面，若由子女立場考慮時，合乎傳統孝道規範之方式最為人所偏好；而由父母的角度出發時，則展現較高的非傳統態度；但是就自己的未來規劃而言，獨居與經濟獨立則是較多數人的理想方式。在未來老年奉養態度之多變項分析中，我們發現個人之人力資本(教育)、都市化居住經驗、子女數較少者，較傾向不與已婚子女同住和經濟自立之奉養態度。而目前之家庭結構和父母經濟奉養模式，的確會影響個人未來之奉養態度一一亦即核心家庭成員和父母目前經濟自立者較偏好未來採取相同的奉養方式。進一步的分析顯示，都會區居民未來的奉養態度似乎較受目前家庭結構的影響，而鄉村居民則較受目前父母經濟奉養方式的影響。換言之，實際的家庭奉養經驗對個人未來奉養態度的偏好上，有重要的關聯。

This paper examines the relationship between the practice and the attitude toward elderly parents' support. Present living arrangements as well as types of economic support are used to indicate the actual experience of family support. Three various perspectives-namely, from parents, from children, from own future preference-regarding attitudes toward parental support are compared in order to delineate possible differences between general versus personal attitudes. Data' are taken from “The Economic Development and Female’s Family Status" (NSC83- 0301-H-001-064; NSC84-2411-H-001-018). Stratified random sample of 500 Taiwanese married couples and 500 married females constitute our sample. The result shows that co-residence between elderly parents and married children (63.5%), children's support as major economic source for the elderly (60.5%) remain as the dominant forms of parental support in Taiwan. Attitudes toward parental support reveal interesting differences. specifically, from parents’ viewpoints, higher separate living arrangement and stronger desire of financial independence are observed in contrast with the children's perspective. However, the most important difference is found from personal future attitudes toward the elderly support. 44% prefers separate living arrangement and economic independence when getting old. This proportion exceeds the conventional response of depending on the children for the elderly support. Therefore, the multivariate analysis which aims at exploring the association between behavior (actual experience) and attitudes of parental support adopts personal future attitudes as the dependent variable. The findings support our hypothesis that current family structure and economic support patterns have significant effects on personal future attitudes toward the elderly support. Members from the nuclear family as well as those parents who have independent economy are more likely to favor similar support patterns in the future. Further analyses indicate that present living arrangement is more important for urban residents while present economic support pattern is more significant for rural residents in their future attitudes toward parental support. Hence, actual family support experience does have important association with personal future attitudes toward the parental support.