Social and economic change,intergenerational relationships,and family formation in Taiwan

This paper examines the influence of social change and economic growth on intergenerational relationships and the formation of families in Taiwan. Using data from two island-wide surveys in 1973 and 1980, the analysis shows that, as expected, social change has been accompanied by rapid changes in family structure and relationships, including the spread of schooling, the employment of young people outside the family, increasing separation of the residences of parents and children before and after marriage, growing independence of young people, and increases in premarital sex and pregnancies. The position of a family in the social structure also influences the way young people interact with their parents and form their own families: women with educated fathers have more nonfamilial experiences than others, and farm origins tend to exert a traditional influence on the life course. Finally, experiences early in the life course have important ramifications for later behavior and transitions.     

Family influences on family size preferences

Several studies have demonstrated important effects of parents’ childbearing behavior on their children’s childbearing preferences and behavior. The study described here advances our understanding of these family influences by expanding the theoretical model to include parental preferences, siblings’ behavior, and changes in children’s preferences through early adulthood. Using intergenerational panel data from mothers and their children, we test the effects of both mothers’ preferences for their own fertility and mothers’ preferences for their children’s fertility. Although both types of maternal preferences influence children’s childbearing preferences, mothers’ preferences for their children’s behavior have the stronger and more proximate effects. Mothers’ preferences continue to influence their children’s preferences through early adulthood; siblings’ fertility is an additional determinant of children’s family size preferences.     

Education Expansion, Educational Inequality, and Income Inequality: Evidence from Taiwan, 1976–2003

The expansion of higher education in Taiwan starting from the late 1980s has successfully raised the average level of education. Using the concept of the education Gini, we find that the educational inequality declined as average schooling rose during the period of 1976–2003. The impacts of a rising average schooling and a declining educational inequality are also tested empirically in this paper. The evidence supports that a higher level of average schooling will generate a lower income inequality. On the other hand, a lower educational inequality, as measured by education Gini coefficient, will also cause a lower income inequality. Skill-biased technological change that shifts the labor demand from unskilled workers toward skilled workers is the most likely cause for the rising income inequality in Taiwan. However, the trend of rising income inequality could be reversed due to possible future over-education and unemployment in the labor market.     

Earnings,relative income,and family formation

The probability of first marriage for men who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 was analyzed with respect to their Social Security earnings records, Wisconsin income tax reports for parents, and other variables. The findings provide no support for Easterlin's hypothesis that marriage will occur earlier when young men judge their economic prospects favorably with respect to their parents' income. However, young men's earnings and time spent in schooling to increase them were found to be important influences on marriage timing. Additional schooling had little effect net of the time it absorbed.     

Education,work, and family formation in early adulthood

A multivariate analysis examined relationships among education, work, and family formation using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. A consensus has emerged among behavioral scientists that these three variables affect each other mutually, but until recently, methodological limitations have made it difficult to study these mutual effects. The present study attacked these difficulties by usingLISREL procedures. The most important findings, perhaps, are that, among women, both working and pursuing higher education exert substantial negative influences on marrying and becoming a parent. These influences are substantially stronger than. influences in the opposite direction. Therefore, these results imply that, for women, delaying childbearing is more a consequence of decisions to pursue other activities than it is a cause of such decisions. Among men, pursuing higher education negatively influenced family formation but working did not. The most notable difference between men and women, however, was that forming a family exerted a positive influence on working among men but not among women. Locus of control exerted little influence on any outcome.     

Risk, uncertainty and family formation: The social context of poverty groups

Abstract Despite the assumptions of many demographers that the net returns from children for non-elite groups in underdeveloped areas are likely to be negative, high fertility persists in most of these societies. Both cultural and institutional explanations have been proposed to account for this. We attempt to provide some mediation between these competing models, by introducing the elements of risk and uncertainty as factors likely to induce poverty and lead works to opt for the 'high fertility, low quality' pattern of investment of time and money in family formation. Drawing upon the work of Wharton in subsistence agriculture practices, several alternative decision-making models are proposed to account for both the persistence of high fertility, and the declines that have been registered in selected areas, such as Taiwan and perhaps China. The empirical work of Mueller on Taiwanese expectations of returns on children and the concomitant variation in family-size preferences is consistent with the models proposed. Some implications for uncertainty and risk-reduction strategies in family planning and other social welfare programmes are drawn.     

Social indicators, 1976: A critique

Social Indicators 1976 is reviewed from the point of view of its conceptual framework, data presentation, analysis and interpretation, data quality, variable disaggregation and quality of life measures.     

Factors affecting early family formation: A path model

The age at which women initiate family formation has important social and economic implications. To explore factors that determine age at initiation of childbearing, a non-recursive path model was estimated using data for young women in the National Longitudinal Survey. Results suggest that the young woman's family of orientation has important effects on the age at which she begins family building, but that the process is not simple or direct. Age at first marriage, educational attainment, and age at family formation are strongly interdependent; however, the process seems to vary by race.Kristin A. Moore and Sandra L. Hofferth are affiliated with the Urban Institute, 2100 M. Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Requests for reprints should be directed to Kristin Moore.     

Urban influences on farmland use in New York State

This article assesses the relationship between demographic change and structural adjustments in agriculture. A number of demographic and economic analyses have posited an inverse relationship between post-1950 exurban population growth and agricultural viability, especially in the Northeast Region of the USA. To test this hypothesis, a multivariate model of percent change in county land in farms over the period 1950–1987 is estimated, and the findings only partially support the population hypothesis. Estimation results indicate that the effect of core metropolitan status is significant, but that the effects of rural population change, rural nonfarm population change, and county population deconcentration are not. The analysis demonstrates that maintenance of land in farm use largely depends upon economic forces that are national and regional in scope, and almost exclusively outside the purview of state and local farmland protection programs.     

India: New family planning program direction outlined

The focus of the current Family Welfare Program in India is education and active community involvement rather than coercion and compulsion. The government is totally committed to the program and has indicated that it will spare no efforts to motivate people to voluntarily accept family planning. However, there is a need for family planning efforts to include all aspects of family welfare, particularly those designed to promote the health of mothers and children. All family planning methods will be made available, and the family will be free to choose the method they prefer. As part of the program, employees of the Union government, State governments, autonomous and local bodies are expected to set an example and adopt the small family norm. The policy statement made by Mr. Raj Narain, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, revealed the government's decision not to legislate, either at the national or the State level, for compulsory sterilization. Sterilization services will be available free of charge to those who voluntarily choose this method. A plan for training indigenous midwives will be implemented as part of the program in order that maternity services may be available to all expectant mothers. Additionally, in recognition of the direct correlation between illiteracy and fertility and between infant/maternal mortality and age at marriage, the government will introduce legislation to raise the minimum age at marriage to 18 years for girls and to 21 years for boys. The plan is for trade unions, Chambers of Commerce, cooperative societies, women's organizations, teachers' federation, district councils, and other voluntary institutions to be associated intimately with the educational campaign launching the Family Welfare Program.     

Market transition,educational disparities,and family strategies in rural china: New evidence on gender stratification and development

Two theoretical perspectives have dominated debates about the impact of development on gender stratification: modernization theory, which argues that gender inequalities decline with economic growth, and the "women in development" perspective, which argues that development may initially widen gender gaps. Analyzing cross-sectional surveys and time-series data from China, this article indicates the relevance of both perspectives: while girls' educational opportunities were clearly more responsive than boys' to better household economic circumstances, the era of market transition in the late 1970s and early 1980s failed to accelerate and, in fact, may have temporarily slowed progress toward gender equity.     

Labor force participation and family formation: A study of working mothers

Drawing upon a sample of 638 mothers aged 18 to 40, with at least some marital work experience, significant associations were found between the extent, kind, and timing of employment and a series of family formation variables. Generally lower fertility, longer first birth intervals, and earlier use of birth control were associated with the longest work durations, the highest status jobs, and work before the birth of the first child. The data failed, however, to differentiate desired family size.     

Occupational influences on retirement,disability, and death

This research examines the alternative mechanisms by which occupations influence the nature and timing of older men's labor force withdrawal. We specifically assess the extent to which occupational factors operate directly and indirectly on exiting events and whether occupations constrain traditional determinants of labor force participation. Based on a discrete-time hazard modeling approach, the results substantiate that the occupational task activities--substantive complexity and physical demands--are key elements of the work environment that are evaluated against nonwork alternatives. In the case of retirement, these aspects of occupational attractiveness function as a dominant and direct force in retirement decision making. With regard to disability, the occupational attribute of substantive complexity operates as an indirect advantage (through higher wages) by reducing the risk of disability. Indicators of career continuity also influence retirement among older workers. Finally, the results suggest that financial characteristics and health problems are central to the distribution of older workers across the alternative destination statuses of retirement, disability, and death.     

Do statements about desired family size predict fertility? the case of Taiwan, 1967–1970

The predictive accuracy of respondents' statements about their future fertility is examined, using interview data from a longitudinal study conducted in Taiwan. Two measures of preference are found to be highly intercorrelated; and regardless of which one is used, Taiwanese women are shown to predict their subsequent fertility at least as well as U.S. women. The preference measures are also predictive of rates of contraceptive use and abortion. While demographic and social characteristics are correlated with fertility in expected directions, statements about wanting more children prove to be highly predictive of subsequent fertility for both modern and less advanced segments of the population.     

Labor force participation of working mothers and family formation: Some further evidence

This paper offers additional insight and evidence on the well-documented inverse relationship between female employment and fertility. Interviews with 388 working mothers from a probability sample in Robeson County, North Carolina, provide the data for testing the hypothesized relationships. Generally, the results indicate that lower fertility, lower desires and expectations, and earlier use of birth control are associated with work before the first birth and with employment of the longest duration. The timing of the first birth was not differentiated by variations in work experience. The results are conditional in that the relationships hold more for whites than for blacks or Indians.     

The island-wide family planning programme in Taiwan: Analysis of the accomplishments of the past eight years

Abstract Taiwan's island-wide family planning programme is the showcase of similar programmes in the developing world. In the past eight years, between 1964 and 1971, a cumulative total of 935,000 married women accepted the Lippes loop, 236,000 accepted the pill, and 116,000 couples accepted condoms. The prevalence rates of loop and pill users at the end of 1971 are estimated at 18·7 per cent and 3-6 per cent respectively. The programme had been recruiting more younger women of lower parity to practise family planning which is desirable, but a fact of concern is that a large proportion of the acceptors had had at least one son, and had accepted the methods to stop, rather than to space births. The 'life expectancy' of loop and pill, the two major contraceptives recommended in the programme, have been shorter than expected, 31·4 months without and 49·9 months with re-insertion for the loop, and only 10·5 months without re-taking for the pill. The concepts of 'half-life (retention)' and 'half-life (impact)', developed by the author, were applied in the analysis to obtain the values of 18·6 months and 25·7 months respectively for the loop, and 5·8 months and 9·2 months respectively for the pill all for the first segment. Only nine per cent of the total current loop wearers were aged 40-44 in 1964, but the proportion had increased substantially, to 20·5 per cent, in 1971. This 'ageing' of current users tends to minimize the demographic impact of the programme which is a factor of concern. Methods to overcome this and other problems should be explored for the final success of the programme.     

Famine,social disruption,and involuntary fetal loss: Evidence from chinese survey data

Relying on half a million pregnancy histories collected from Chinese women in the late 1980s, we studied nearly a quarter century of self-reported miscarriages and stillbirths in China. Our results suggest that these two forms of involuntary fetal loss are affected not only by biological and demographic factors, such as the mother's age, pregnancy order, and pregnancy history, but also by the mother's social characteristics and the larger social environment. In this article, we focus on how two social and economic crises--the Great Leap Forward famine and the Cultural Revolution--resulted in elevated risks of miscarriage and stillbirth in the Chinese population.