Son Preference in Indian Families: Absolute Versus Relative Wealth Effects

The desire for male children is prevalent in India, where son preference has been shown to affect fertility behavior and intrahousehold allocation of resources. Economic theory predicts less gender discrimination in wealthier households, but demographers and sociologists have argued that wealth can exacerbate bias in the Indian context. I argue that these apparently conflicting theories can be reconciled and simultaneously tested if one considers that they are based on two different notions of wealth: one related to resource constraints (absolute wealth), and the other to notions of local status (relative wealth). Using cross-sectional data from the 1998–1999 and 2005–2006 National Family and Health Surveys, I construct measures of absolute and relative wealth by using principal components analysis. A series of statistical models of son preference is estimated by using multilevel methods. Results consistently show that higher absolute wealth is strongly associated with lower son preference, and the effect is 20%–40% stronger when the household’s community-specific wealth score is included in the regression. Coefficients on relative wealth are positive and significant although lower in magnitude. Results are robust to using different samples, alternative groupings of households in local areas, different estimation methods, and alternative dependent variables.     

对中国生育"男孩偏好"社会动因的再思考

本文通过对部分中国育龄夫妇生育性别选择行为的文化诠释和制度分析,说明了生育“男孩偏好”的文化根源和制度基础。指出:在中国社会,男孩具有女孩所不具备的价值、特别是家庭和社会价值;同时“男孩偏好”是一种源于家庭制度和个体社会行为模式、制度化的社会价值取向。因此,人口出生性别比失常从根本上说反映了制度与文化的冲突,要扭转它需要制度创新和文化建设。     

妇女生命历程对其男孩偏好的影响

男孩偏好是导致我国人口出生性别比升高的根本原因.妇女是男孩偏好传统的受害者,她们的生命历程中经历了许多基于性别的差别待遇事件.这些事件会对妇女自身的性别观念产生什么样的影响？文章以生命历程理论为理论框架,通过对调查数据和资料的分析,研究妇女生命历程中的事件对其男孩偏好的影响.研究结果表明,在妇女生命历程各个不同阶段中,她们所经历的一系列基于性别的差别性待遇的影响会不断累积,让她们逐渐感知到两性在家庭、社会中所处的不平等地位,从而增加妇女发生男孩偏好的可能性.甚至这些经历和事件发生的时间、次序,都会对妇女的男孩偏好产生影响.在此基础上,文章提出弱化妇女男孩偏好的政策建议.     

Contraceptive Method Choice Among Youth in the United States: The Importance of Relationship Context

We examine the relationship characteristics associated with contraceptive method choice within young people’s nonmarital sexual relationships, using data from retrospective relationship histories available in the third wave (2001–2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Data-reduction techniques produce a detailed multidimensional characterization of relationship commitment for nonmarital sexual relationships. We then use multilevel analysis to estimate associations between two key relationship characteristics—relationship commitment and couple heterogamy—and the type of contraceptive method used at last sexual intercourse within each relationship. Results indicate that for a given individual, contraceptive method choice varies across relationships as a function of these characteristics, even after we account for important individual and family characteristics and prior relationship experiences.     

选择性、传统还是适应:流动对农村育龄妇女男孩偏好的影响研究

我国人口的大规模流动正在改变着农村育龄妇女的生育观念,传统生育观念中的男孩偏好逐步弱化.文章梳理了流动对人们生育观念影响的相关理论,并通过对调查数据的分析,在控制了人口流动的选择偏差的条件下,比较了从未流动的农村育龄妇女和有流动经历的农村育龄妇女在男孩偏好方面的差异,并进一步研究了“流动时是否与丈夫在一起”的经历对农村育龄妇女男孩偏好的影响.结果表明,有流动经历和没有流动经历的妇女在男孩偏好方面确实存在显著的差异,这种差异一方面是由于流动的选择性造成的,另一方面也源于流动使妇女的生育观念更为现代化,弱化了她们的男孩偏好.但是,流出地的文化传统依然通过家庭和社区影响着妇女生育的性别偏好.     

Son Preference and Access to Social Insurance: Evidence from China's Rural Pension Program

Many scholars argue that the persistence of son preference in China is driven by greater anticipated old‐age support from sons than from daughters and the absence of formal financial mechanisms for families to save for retirement. The introduction of a voluntary old‐age pension program in rural China in the 1990s presents the opportunity to examine (1) whether parents with sons are less likely to participate in pension plans and (2) whether providing access to pension plans affects parental sex‐selection decisions. Consistent with the first hypothesis, we find that parents with sons are less likely to participate in the pension program and have less financial savings for retirement. Consistent with the second hypothesis, we find that an increase in county‐level pension program availability is associated with a slower increase in the sex ratio at birth.     

中国农民工的社会网络与性别偏好——基于深圳调查的研究

文章利用西安交通大学人口与发展研究所2005年中国深圳市农民工调查数据,基于社会网络理论定量研究了农民工的性别偏好现状及其影响因素。研究发现流动后农民工的生育观念与行为仍具有明显的男孩偏好特征;社会网络因素、流动因素和个体因素在一定程度上对农民工的男孩偏好观念与行为产生了影响。本文的研究结果对于理解中国城镇人口出生性别比偏高的现象和原因有重要作用。     

The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea: The Roles of Development and Public Policy

For years, sex ratios at birth kept rising in South Korea despite rapid development. We show that this was not an anomaly: underlying son preference fell with development, but the effect of son preference on sex ratios at birth rose until the mid‐1990s as a result of improved sex‐selection technology. Now South Korea leads Asia with a declining sex ratio at birth. We explore how son preference was affected by development and by public policy. Decomposition analysis indicates that development reduced son preference primarily through triggering normative changes across society—rather than just in individuals whose socioeconomic circumstances had changed. The cultural underpinnings of son preference in preindustrial Korea were unraveled by industrialization and urbanization even as public policies sought to uphold the patriarchal family system. Our results suggest that child sex ratios in China and India may decline before those countries reach South Korean levels of development, since the governments of both countries vigorously promote normative change to reduce son preference.     

社会经济发展与男孩偏好的淡化

本文利用2010年中国人民大学育龄妇女家庭与生育状况调查数据,对男孩偏好弱化现象及导致男孩偏好弱化的社会经济因素进行了研究。研究发现,农业技术和生产工具的进步、农村家庭收入来源中非农收入比例的提高、男孩较高的养育成本、社会保障的完善和人口流动性的增加所导致的人们对“养儿防老”预期的降低以及住房、交通条件的改善等一系列社会经济变化的共同作用,使人们的男孩偏好逐步淡化。     

Son Preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from South and East Asian Immigrants to Canada

Preference for sons over daughters, evident in China's and South Asia's male sex ratios, is commonly rationalized by poverty and the need for old‐age support. In this article we study South and East Asian immigrants to Canada, a group for whom the economic imperative to select sons is largely absent. Analyzing the 2001 and 2006 censuses, 20 percent samples, we find clear evidence of extensive sex selection in favor of boys at higher parities among South and East Asian immigrants unless they are Christian or Muslim. The latter finding accords with the explicit prohibition against (female) infanticide—traditionally the main sex‐selection method—in these religions. Our findings point to a strong cultural component to both the preference for sons and the willingness to resort to induced abortion based on sex.     

中国的男孩偏好和婚姻挤压——初婚与再婚市场的综合分析

中国强烈的男孩偏好和对女性的歧视导致了婚姻市场上严重的男性婚姻挤压。本文使用中国2000年普查数据和所预测的2001~2050年人口数据,结合初婚和再婚市场设计了度量婚姻挤压的指标,测度了2001~2050年中国的婚姻挤压程度,考察了男孩偏好和再婚因素对中国未来婚姻挤压的影响。结果表明未来中国婚姻市场每年有10%~15%男性过剩人口,达到120万人。男孩偏好导致的高出生性别比显著影响未来婚姻市场,而再婚人口对婚姻市场上过剩人口也有显著影响。     

The Missing Baby Bust: The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Contraceptive Use,Pregnancy, and Childbirth Among Low-Income Women

Population Research and Policy Review - Multiple episodes in US history demonstrate that birth rates fall in response to recessions. However, the 2020 COVID-19 recession differed from earlier...     

Religion and Mental Health Among Israeli Jews: Findings from the SHARE-Israel Study

This study investigates the impact of religiousness on mental health indicators in a population sample of Israeli Jews aged 50 or older. Data are from the Israel sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel), collected from 2005 to 2006. Of the 1,287 Jewish respondents, 473 (36.8 %) were native-born Israelis and 814 (63.2 %) were diaspora-born. Religious measures included past-month synagogue activities, current prayer, and having received a religious education. Mental health outcomes included single-item measures of lifetime depression and life satisfaction, along with the CES-D and EURO-D depression scales, the CASP-12 quality of life scale, and the LOT-R optimism scale. Participation in synagogue activities was found to be significantly associated with less depression, better quality of life, and more optimism, even after adjusting for effects of the other religious measures, for sociodemographic covariates, for the possibly confounding effect of age-related activity limitation, and for nativity. Findings for prayer were less consistent, including inverse associations with mental health, perhaps reflecting prayer’s use as a coping response. Finally, religious education was associated with greater optimism. These results underscore a modest contribution of religious participation to well-being among middle-aged and older adults, extending this research to the Israeli and Jewish populations.     

Son preference, sex selection, and kinship in Vietnam

This article examines the recent rise in the sex ratio at birth in Vietnam and relates its emergence to kinship systems and ethnic composition using 2009 census micro-data. Presentation of the main socioeconomic and ethnic differentials in birth masculinity is followed by a review of the three intermediate factors leading to increases in the sex ratio at birth: prenatal technology, declining fertility, and gender bias. An indirect measurement of fertility behavior is used to demonstrate the close association between levels of the sex ratio at birth and the intensity of son preference. Data on household composition indicate that Vietnam is characterized by the co-existence of kinship patterns typical of East and Southeast Asia. Son preference in Vietnam is found to be related to the prevalence of more traditional patrilineal systems. The article concludes by considering the implications of the cultural dimensions of prenatal sex selection for policy responses and for the likely future change in the sex ratio at birth.     

Quality of Community Life Among Rural Residents: An Integrated Model

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships among housing satisfaction, community attachment and community satisfaction and the complex mechanisms involved in predicting community satisfaction among residents in rural communities. The role of housing satisfaction and community attachment in predicting community satisfaction was of particular interest. A structural equation model of community satisfaction was tested with mail survey data drawn from a randomly selected rural sample of 974 households. The results of this study confirmed the influences and mediating role of community attachment and housing satisfaction in predicting community satisfaction. “Spillover” effects from “lower levels of life concerns” (e.g., satisfaction with local services, assessment of current housing conditions) in perceived community satisfaction were found that support previous research (Sirgy and Cornwell in Social Indicators Research 59:79–114, 2002).     

The Relationships Between Sense of Belonging to the Gay Community,Body Image Dissatisfaction,and Self-Esteem Among Australian Gay Men

Body image dissatisfaction has been linked to belonging to the gay community and poor self-esteem among gay men. This study was designed to explore the applicability of a moderation model and a mediation model in explaining the relations between sense of belonging to the gay community, body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem among 90 self-identified Australian gay men. Participants completed the psychological subscale of the Sense of Belonging Instrument, the Body Satisfaction Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results supported the moderation model; the relation between body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem was found to be statistically significant only at average and high levels of belonging to the gay community. The mediation model was also supported; body image dissatisfaction partially mediated the sense of belonging–self-esteem relation. Educating gay men and health professionals about the possible negative outcomes of “belonging” to an appearance-oriented community is important.