Measuring respect

Marginal Revolution had an interesting question: Why don't American kids respect their parents more? The usual suspects abound and I'm sympathetic to the bad parents and liberal/PC environment (e.g. no spanking) reasons but I thought I'd advance something else a little more off the beaten track. Americans are less trusting of governments and authority (compared to Europeans, for instance). Hence they teach their children to question authority more often. Questioning of authority can also be equated with lack of respect. In any case, can we actually measure respect (and what is respect) or is the question posed merely an impression?