Sons or daughters? Cross-cultural comparisons of the sex preferences of Australian,Greek, Italian,Malay, Chinese and Indian parents in Australia and Malaysia

In examining reasons for fertility decline research has focused upon changes in the demand for children, in particular evidence of a transition in values and disvalues of children from high- to low-fertility countries. Two surveys of the value of children to 717 parents in Australia (Australian, Greek and Italian respondents) and 522 parents in Peninsular Malaysia (Malay, Chinese and Indian respondents) investigated the existence of and changes in sex preference and the motivations for wanting sons and daughters. Son preference was in general higher for couples interviewed in Malaysia. The reasons for wanting a son centered upon traditional values of old age support, continuation of the family name and the completion of male tasks in the home. Within Australia, Southern European immigrants mentioned the need to continue the family name, but the Australian-born emphasized the personality and companionship benefits of a son. The reasons for wanting a daughter indicated an even clearer breakdown of interests in the two countries over the traditional as compared to the more psychologically oriented benefits in having a girl. Overall, the comparison between countries indicated a general decline in son preference from high- to low-fertility regimes and somewhat less concern with the traditional roles of children.Requests for reprints should be directed to Dr. V. Callan, Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Queensland, Australia. The research projects were funded by grants from the Population and Development Policy Research Program of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Australian Department of Health, and the Australian National University.     

Attitudes towards demographic trends and population policy: Italy and the Netherlands in a comparative perspective

A comparative analysis was carried out using survey data on attitudes regarding population trends and policy in Italy and in the Netherlands. The results show that current trends and the determinants of those trends are perceived similarly in both countries. With regard to policy, the Italians exhibit much more positive attitudes toward suggested new family policy measures than the Dutch. In the Netherlands, family policy generally is given a much lower priority than other areas of social policy. It appears that having children reflects different values in the two countries. Those who attach greater value to having children are also more in favour of new family policy measures than others. However, the results suggest that introduction of these measures would not raise the reproduction rate to anywhere near a stationary level.     

高职院校学生的生育道德观现状与实证研究

研究分别以分层丛集式问卷与子女价值量表对24岁以下的高职学生进行生育道德观的实证分析,旨在探讨生育道德观与未来希望生育子女数及生育挟择的整体关系。结果发现：高职学生以“权力成就”、“亲密情感”、“家庭愉悦”为最主要的认同层面;生育道德观因性剐、交友情况、父母教育程度等成长经验的不同而有所差异;生育道德观中“生育价值”、“生育代价”、“生育挟择”因素对未来希望生育子女数有一定程度的预测力。     

Some roots of preference: Roles,activities and familial values

This paper examines some of the connecting links between modernization in a developing society, particularly urbanization and increased education for women, and preferences for number of children. Using 1973 Taiwan data, preferences for smaller families are found to be consistently related to modern attitudes and behavior in the three domains examined: intrafamilial husband-wife role relationships, extrafamilial activities of the wife, and familial and religious values relating the family to the larger institutional setting. Modernization of these attitudes, behaviors, and values has an impact on reproductive goals independent of their association with structural variables. The wife's outside activities and exposure to modern influences through the mass media are especially important linkages, having a particularly strong mediating effect in the education effect on preferences. Intrafamilial relations appear to be of less importance. Modernization of familial and religious values mediates between urbanization and family size preferences. The measure of preference used is a scale value which has been found in other research to be more predictive of reproductive behavior than the conventional single-valued statement of number of children wanted. As the level of contraceptive use rises in developing societies, family size preferences increasingly become a factor in birth rates, and understanding the sources of change in these preferences takes on added importance. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Costs and benefits of children: implications for population policy

Family size preferences are strongly affected by parents' perceptions of the value, economic contributions, and costs of children. Better understanding of these factors can help policy-makers to improve the effectiveness of population IEC campaigns, design strategies to persuade couples to have smaller families, assess the relationship between economic development and family size preferences, and devise national population policies and family planning programs that reflect individual choices. Parents in high-fertility countries are more likely to perceive children as productive investments than those in low-fertility countries. Parents in the former countries maintain children are an economic advantage or provide practical assistance in the household; they are less likely to emphasize the psychological advantages of children. As economic development occurs, and parents no longer value children for their economic contributions, psychological and social reasons become more important. Changing fertility preferences is more complex than providing couples with family planning services. Similarly, efforts to persuade families that large families are a burden are successful only when families are already interested in reducing their family size. Efforts to persuade couples to have smaller families are likely to be more successful if there are alternative sources of old-age support available, for example, from increased household savings, public or private pensions, or greater contributions from 1st and 2nd children. Investments in education and training, especially for women and children, would also support these goals.     

Relationships Between Parents’ And Children’s Salient Values For Future And Children’s Overall Life Satisfaction. A Comparison Across Countries

In this paper, a model is set forth relating (a) overall life satisfaction of children to children’s values and (b) children’s values to parents’ values. Using confirmatory factor analysis models three dimensions of values (materialistic values, capacities and knowledge values and interpersonal relationship values) consistently emerged in 5 countries (Brazil, South Africa, Norway, Spain and India) for both parents and children. There was a considerable amount of missing data, mainly because the parent’s questionnaire was often not returned. Full information maximum likelihood estimators with missing data were thus used.Multiple-group analyses were next performed to assess factor invariance of the three value dimensions across the five countries for both parents and children. This implies testing the equality of factor loadings and intercepts across groups. This equality is required to ensure that factors have the same interpretation in all groups, which is necessary when comparing any aspect of the factor distribution across groups.The only two countries for which the interpretation of value dimensions was invariant for both parents and children were Brazil and Spain. The results of other countries could thus not be compared. Multiple-group structural equation models revealed that both parents and children scored higher on most values in Brazil than in Spain. In both countries, each child value dimension was only significantly predicted by the same value dimension of the parents. R-squares were in the 4–12% range and slightly higher in Brazil. The only value dimension that had some effect on overall life satisfaction was capacities and knowledge, which was so in both countries.Acknowledgements are due to the country project directors and their associates Per Egil Mjaavatn (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway), Usha Nayar (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India), Irene Rizzini (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Rose September (Western Cape University, South Africa) and Ferran Casas (Catalan Network of Child Researchers – XCIII – in co-operation with the University of Girona, Spain) for permitting us to use part of their project and to Childwatch International, Oslo, for sponsorship.     

Urbanization, non-familial work, education, and fertility in Taiwan

Abstract It is well known, that there is a relationship between the level of development of a society and its level offertility.(1) However, it is not clear which of the complex ofvariables associated with development are primarily associated with the reduction of fertility. Urbanization, female labour force participation and education are three of the variables most commonly cited as bearing a causal relationship to fertility. Urbanization implies a change of environment of a substantial portion of the population which may result in a change in the value placed on large families. This is particularly true when urban mortality is lower than rural, so that more children survive.(2) However, it has also been argued that urbanization results in a change in family structure from the extended to the nuclear family with a concomitant reduction in the value placed on having many children.(3) Additional changes in family patterns which are sometimes said to explain fertility reduction due to urbanization are increases in the proportion of women never marrying and increases in the age at marriage.     

Strategic transfers, redistributive fiscal policies, and family bonds: a micro-economic analysis

This paper presents a micro-economic model to analyze intergenerational exchange in which the utility maximizing decisions of “selfish” children on family services, labor market activities, and leisure are determined endogenously. We show that altruistic parents’ financial transfers have a disincentive effect on the labor supply of their children and that the children’s equilibrium income is positively correlated with parental income. Based on the theoretical model, we find that redistributing US$1 from children to their parents increases parental transfers by less than US$1, implying that intergenerational public transfers are Ricardian non-neutral. However, the non-neutral redistributive transfers may enhance intergenerational family bonds because the equilibrium levels of services rendered by children to their parents increase.     

Fertility trends in Taiwan: Tradition and change

Fertility rates have been falling In Taiwan for several years. The declines appear to be general throughout the island, and are occurring mainly in the age groups above 50, as would be expected if there are beginnings of family limitation. There are indications that the fertility rates are negatively correlated with indices of modernization In local areas. Several pilot studies indicate a consensus in the population on the desirability of a moderate number of children, the desirability of the Idea of family planning, a positive valuation of such traditional Chinese values as the joint family and support of parents by their children In old age. In one urban area studied, a substantial minority of wives 25–29 years old have used a family planning method already. The “pre-pregnancy health program” of the Provincial Health Department has been quite successful in providing service to interested couples, and among these couples the programme is demonstrably effective in reducing birth rates. Data from the various sources are consistent with the speculation that Taiwanese couples want to use modern family planning methods to maintain elements of the traditional Chinese family in a modern setting.     

Urbanization,non-familial work,education, and fertility in Taiwan

It is well known, that there is a relationship between the level of development of a society and its level offertility.¹ However, it is not clear which of the complex ofvariables associated with development are primarily associated with the reduction of fertility. Urbanization, female labour force participation and education are three of the variables most commonly cited as bearing a causal relationship to fertility. Urbanization implies a change of environment of a substantial portion of the population which may result in a change in the value placed on large families. This is particularly true when urban mortality is lower than rural, so that more children survive.² However, it has also been argued that urbanization results in a change in family structure from the extended to the nuclear family with a concomitant reduction in the value placed on having many children.³ Additional changes in family patterns which are sometimes said to explain fertility reduction due to urbanization are increases in the proportion of women never marrying and increases in the age at marriage.     

Children as by-products, investment goods and consumer goods: A Review of some micro-economic models of fertility

Summary This paper is a review of a number of applications of traditional micro-economics to the analysis of fertility. In this paper four general models of family size are developed and utilized for classifying previous work on the micro-economic analysis of fertility. The general models describe four family decision-making situations. The outcome of these decisions determines fertility either directly or indirectly. In the first model, parents are forced to choose between sexual activity and a higher standard of living. Children are the by-products of the amount of sexual activity chosen. In the second model, children are an investment good and family size is determined by the choice between current and future consumption. The third and fourth models depict situations in which children are considered to be desirable in themselves, that is, they are consumption goods.     

The International Multidimensional Fertility Index: The European Case

We propose an index to measure the degree of ability or desire of the population in a given country to have children, via an analysis of certain factors that may have a positive or negative influence on the fertility rate of that country. Using data for the twenty-eight countries of the European Union, and Principal Components Analysis, we construct the International Multidimensional Fertility Index as a combination of four dimensions: (1) Economy and family, (2) Attitudes and habits, (3) Work–Life Balance, and (4) Policy, along with nineteen distinct variables. We find that Denmark, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg are among the countries with the highest value of the index, and they also have high fertility rates within the EU. At the other end of the spectrum, Latvia, Cyprus, and Greece, are ranked in the last positions according to our index, countries that also present low values in their fertility rates. We also find a positive correlation between the value of our index and country fertility rates, an indication that our index may be capturing country differences in the conditions for bearing children, with higher values of the index indicating better conditions for childbirth and childrearing. To the extent that international data becomes available, our methodology will allow for the construction of international rankings, helpful in identifying cross-country differences in the conditions for fertility.     

Family values system of Polish single youth in the 1980s

"We have presented the selected results of [a] family attitude (to marriage and procreation) survey, viewed against the Polish single youth's value system.... The empirical data...consists of 4,316 questionnaires answered by youth, aged 18-34, who were single in 1986. We focussed on selected elements of a hypothetical model of the future family: pattern of marital values and pattern of procreational values. Moreover, we identified the Polish youth's system of family values, taking into account the motivation for entering marriage, marital life values and evaluation of marital success."     

A modification for use in destabilized populations of brass's technique for estimating completeness of death registration

The analysis of censuses for pre-industrial Europe has caused doubts about the supposed dominance of stem and joint family organization in earlier times. Using a hypothetical example of a nuclear family organization where extended composition is only found when widowed persons find shelter in the household of one of their children, we show that both the expected value and the variance of the estimated frequency of extended composition are high under demographic circumstances typical of pre-industrial Europe. This makes inferences about family organization based on data concerning family composition hazardous     

计划生育与家庭养老的经济供养能力

通过建立简单模型进行计算和讨论 ,发现少子女家庭与多子女家庭的养老经济供养能力的差别 ,受限于当时当地的经济条件。经济条件差 ,多子女家庭具有一定的优势 ;经济条件好 ,少子女家庭的供养能力则可能更强。计划生育对家庭养老的经济保障能力的影响 ,是通过当时的经济状况而实现的。在经济高度发展的时期 ,计划生育有利于家庭养老经济供养能力的提高。     

Family sizes of children and family sizes of women

This paper demonstrates the relation that obtains between the average family size of women and the average family size of offspring of those women. It estimates the value of these two measures for cohorts of American women aged 45–49 in various years from 1890 to 1970. It shows that children born during the post-war baby boom actually derived from smaller families than those born during the low-fertility 1930’s; that under current patterns a woman would have to bear an average of almost two children fewer than were borne by her mother merely to keep population fertility rates constant from generation to generation; and that average family size for nonwhite children exceeds that for white by 50 percent, although the racial difference in family sizes of women is only 19 percent.     

农村中小学独生子女社会化状况的实证研究

文章运用社会化的有关理论,利用广西阳朔县436名中小学生的抽样问卷调查资料,以同龄的非独生子女为比较对象,对农村中小学独生子女的社会化状况进行了描述和分析。研究发现：农村中小学独生子女在生活技能、人际交往、价值观念和自我意识四个方面的社会化状况都比较好,并且在所有的指标上都和同龄非独生子女之间没有显著差别。     

Fertility and desired fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Thailand

Summary The validity and usefulness of 'desired additional children' and 'ideal family size' as predictors of fertility are analysed in this paper on the basis of longitudinal survey data from Thailand. First, the extent of measurement error in these variables is considered, and it is concluded that the error variance and the true variance are of similar orders of magnitude. Secondly, the changes in attitudes subsequent to births and deaths of children are investigated. It is found that the number of additional children desired is decreased by births and increased by deaths, but less than would be expected if 'desired additional children' represented an unchanging target family size. 'Ideal family size' is almost unaffected by births and deaths. Thirdly, the contribution of attitudinal variables to behavioural models is examined. It is found that desired fertility is explained no better than fertility in a standard economic model. A birth function separating desired children from identifiable physiological factors as explanatory variables indicated that the former was just significant. A model of contraceptive acceptance also found desired fertility to be a significant determinant. Thus, desired fertility can be successfully integrated into behavioural models. But on the whole, its explanatory power was weak, and it was concluded that the independent use of this variable does not significantly improve on models which relate fertility to socio-economic variables directly.     

Preference for Sons,Family Size,and Sex Ratio: An Empirical Study in Korea

This study investigates the effects of son preference on sex ratio and fertility at the family level, utilizing World Fertility Survey data for Korea, whose population is known to have a strong preference for sons and a fairly high level of contraceptive use. The sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) of siblings in small families is considerably higher than in large families. The sex ratio of last-born children in families of any size is markedly higher than that of the previous children. The sex distribution of children for a given family size, if less than five, deviates significantly from the Bernoulli sequence. The observed frequency of all-girl families is especially small in comparison with the expected value. The sex of the last child strongly influences couples' decision making regarding additional births in all steps of family building except for bearing a second child. In increasing their families to moderate size, parents appear to take into consideration the sex distribution of all earlier births.     

The extent of labour specialization in the extended family: A theoretical and empirical analysis

In this paper we present a simple model of labour supply that is cast within the framework of an extended family. The model emphasizes a Ricardian division of labour whereby the specialization is solely driven by marginal productivity and value of time differentials. The empirical implications of the model are derived and tested using data that was collected in France to study the extent of trade within the family network. We find evidence that the extent of specialization is sensitive to the value of time differentials. Received: 17 May 1995 / Accepted: 20 February 1997