Hong Kong's young people are generally filial to their parents, but may not consider their parents' orders to be absolute, a report from the Commission on Youth of Hong Kong published on Monday suggests.

The study, conducted by Hong Kong Lingnan University's Asia- Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, targeting youths aged 12 to 24, aimed to gather information about the relationships between the youngsters and their senior family members and collect information about their views on filial piety, so as to propose ways to improve inter-generational communications.

In the first part, young people were paired with their parents in eight workshops to explore their views using the Filial Attitudinal Index and Filial Behavioral Index. 46 schools and youth organizations took part in the second part, which involved a questionnaire survey. A total of 3,458 valid questionnaires were collected.

The study showed that participants were generally filial towards their parents, and the two index evaluations were positive.

However, results suggest many young people make a distinction between filialness and obedience, and do not consider their parents' orders to be absolute. They may not fulfill their parents ' wishes unconditionally, either.

Although they care strongly for their parents, they may not express their affection explicitly.

The study says it indicates family behaviors, especially the examples parents set, has the greatest influence on filial piety. Their peers also strongly influence youths' filial concepts.