Underwear can be a token of respect for elders of all sorts. Edward Shultz, a professor emeritus in the school of Asian and Pacific studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, received pastel boxer shorts from students he taught in South Korea six years ago. But when Korean friends have asked him how much his own children have given to him, he replies that it is the other way around.

Image After the Korean War, it became common for young adults to buy their parents red thermal underwear. The tradition lives on, in some form, as this ad from a South Korean underwear manufacturer shows.

Not every person can afford devoting the first paycheck to gifts, given the tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt that many recent graduates face. But some recent Korean-American college graduates who can afford it (or go into more debt to do so) tend toward gifts that are luxury products.

The mother of Justine Chang, who just graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, spent many years driving a minivan dinged up from various children learning to drive in it. It had a patch over a dent that never did get painted because the family, which has had a lot of medical bills over the years, could not afford it.

So Ms. Chang, who is now a litigation assistant for an international law firm in San Francisco, put about $6,000 toward a down payment on an Audi Q7 for her. She was able to afford this thanks to an insurance settlement after her own car was destroyed in a fire, but she has been using her earnings from part-time work since she was 15 to take her family out for meals and for other gifts. “You should know intuitively how much they gave up for you and do whatever you can to make sure they have a comfortable life,” she said. “I didn’t think it was a Korean thing.”

Her mother did, however. Sunny Chong handed over her first paycheck from Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen to her own parents. “I was so proud that I could do something,” she said. “I said, ‘This is my first earnings, and it’s all yours.’” When she opened her own sushi restaurant in Lodi, Calif., she gave money to her church to celebrate the occasion.

When her daughter wanted to help with a new vehicle, Ms. Chong said that she hesitated until her husband talked her into just taking the help and being happy that her daughter could do it. “I am going to pay her back,” she insisted.

According to her daughter, Ms. Chang, gifts like these sometimes serve as a sort of social currency among competitive Korean parents, who will compare notes on who got what from which children at what point in their lives. She said her mother was not that type, however. Ms. Chong, who sees plenty of lonely people in her restaurant who do not have family nearby, said she would never want to hurt another parent’s feelings.