Examining Taiwan’s Paradox of Family Decline with a Household-based Convoy

Taiwan’s paradox of family decline is examined with a household-based convoy, which allows us to explore the paradox from two perspectives, namely, the modified extended family and the household-based convoy. The modified extended family refers to the reunion of spatially separated families covering two generations. The household-based convoy is an extension of the modified extended family that includes relatives and friends with whom there is frequent contact. A probability sample survey with 1,979 cases completed is used to answer two questions: (1) Has there been a change in Taiwan’s family function because of structural change? (2) Is the family’s function being replaced by relatives and friends with whom there is frequent contact? The results of this study show that the coverage of the modified extended family is as high as 81%, indicating a high coherence among spatially separated households covering two generations. The proportions of the respondents who have provided five types of support including sick care, household chores, advice, regular allowances, and irregular allowances to non-coresiding parents are mostly around 40%. Moreover, the members of a modified extended family do have independent functions in relation to most types of support. These findings all lend evidence to refute the view that the family is declining in Taiwan.     

Desired family size in Thailand: Are the responses meaningful?

Data for both rural and urban women in Thailand indicate that the large majority of respondents are able to provide numerical responses to questions on desired family size. Although there is evidence that some women tend to rationalize the number of children they have when stating the number they would want if they were recently married, the vast majority of respondents prefer a number which is different from the number of living children they had at the time of the interview. Women who had already reached or exceeded their desired number were almost universal in stating they wanted no additional children, whereas only a minority of women who had yet to reach their desired family size said they wanted no more children. Finally, the proportion of women who practiced family planning is substantially greater among women who had already achieved or exceeded their desired family size than among women who had fewer than their desired number. The results thus suggest that, in Thailand at least, responses to family size preferences need to be interpreted with caution but nevertheless can be of use to the population analyst.     

The effect of female education on marital matches and child health in Bangladesh

This paper examines the effects of female education on marriage outcomes by exploiting the exogenous variation generated by the Female Secondary School Stipend Program in Bangladesh, which made secondary education free for rural girls. Our findings show that an additional year of female education leads to an increase in 0.72 years of husband’s education and that better educated women pair with spouses who have better occupations and are closer in age to their own, suggesting assortative mating. Those educated women appear to experience greater autonomy in making decisions on receiving their own health care and visiting their family. Furthermore, educated women have lower fertility and use more maternal health care, and their children have better health outcomes than those of less-educated women. Overall, our results suggest that the marriage market is one of the channels through which women’s education affects their life outcomes.     

Negativismr equivocation,and wobbly assent: public “support” for the prochoice platform on abortion

Although disapproval of all justifications for abortion is rare in the United States, our analysis of numerous surveys taken in the 1960s and 1970s shows that support for the full prochoice platform is also rare. This means that respondents who endorse some justifications for abortion and reject others typically constitute about 50 percent of these samples. If forced to choose politically between polar positions, would these people be more likely to side with a positive or a negative extreme? Using Multiple Classification Analysis as a form of discriminant analysis, we examine whether people who appear to form a “middle” group actually are closer in their characteristics to those who are positive, or to those who are negative. Finally, we test to see whether those respondents who endorse all four justifications for abortion (health, child defect, financial stress, and elective abortion) also endorse additional prochoice positions, such as government payments for abortion, abortion without the husband’s or the parent’s consent, and abortion after the first trimester.     

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.     

The validity of survey responses on abortion: Evidence from Estonia

This paper presents results of a validation survey of abortion conducted in Tallinn, Estonia in April and May 1992. The sample was drawn from patient records in a maternity hospital. Women who had an abortion in that hospital in 1991 were asked about recent abortions as part of a survey about women’s health. More than 80% of the respondents reported having a recent abortion. Some respondents misreported their abortion as a miscarriage. Moreover, some variation in reporting was associated with respondents’ characteristics. Ethnic Estonians were less likely to report their abortion than were Russians, women over age 40 were less likely to report the abortion than younger women, and women who had the abortion late in the first trimester were less likely to report that abortion. There was some evidence that unmarried women were less likely than married women to report their abortion, and that women who had borne three or more children were less likely to report their abortion than women who had borne fewer children. These differences probably stem from the extent to which pregnancy or abortion is considered stigmatizing for women in different situations.     

Central Mindanao: selling family planning informally

A research study was conducted in Central Mindanao, Philippines, to evaluate the effectiveness of " selling" informally the idea of family planning to potential acceptors. The study, entitled "the Extent of Involvement of Satisfied Acceptors Clubs/Satisfied Users Clubs" was conducted for the regional office of the Commission on Population (Popcom) by the Notre Dame University Socioeconomic Research Center in Cotabato City. Organized by fulltime outreach workers (FTOWs), the clubs are concerned primarily with the promotion of family planning. The first such club in the region was organized in 1979. Currently, the clubs are linked with other development agencies. The study's respondents were 200 continuing users of a family planning method and were members of the clubs in Illigan City and Cotabato City. Respondents were mostly women (191 or 95.5%), in their early 30s (31%), had 4 children on the average, had reached high school, and belonged to low income families. On the average, respondents had been practicing family planning for around 4 years and 7 months. They were aware of or knowledgeable about the condom, oral contraception (OC), IUDs, rhythm, tubal ligation, vasectomy, and withdrawal. Some of them were aware of injection, abstinence, foam, and the diaphragm. The majority of respondents indicated they had tried other family planning methods before changing to the method they were using. The primary reason for method change was the desire to use a more effective method. The respondents became club members either by being recruited or by applying for membership on their own. Motivating clients to practice contraception was the club's primary activity. 133 club members (66.5%) "claimed to have successfully motivated persons/couples to practice family planning." Among the problems encountered by the clubs, the indifference of people toward the family planning program appeared to bethe most serious from the respondents' perspective. Inactivity of some members was cited as the 2nd most serious problem. The study concluded that despite problems the clubs had been "fairly successful" in helping Popcom promote family planning.     

家庭老年照料经济价值及其影响因素——基于意愿调查法的研究

基于2019年中国人口与发展研究中心与南开大学老龄健康与民生保障研究基地在全国四个省市组织的“家庭老年照料经济价值问卷调查”数据,采用意愿调查方法(CVM)评估家庭老年照料的经济价值,并检验收入水平和健康状况对家庭老年照料经济价值的影响。研究发现对于家庭老年照料,受访者支付意愿(WTP)的平均金额为每小时31.73元,接受政府补贴意愿(WTA)的平均金额为每小时41.98元。收入水平和健康状况仅对支付意愿的金额产生显著影响,并不影响接受补贴的意愿。此外,相较于对照组,年龄较大、患有慢性病、无配偶、初中学历、不住自己房子的受访者不愿意为家庭老年照料付费也不愿意接受补贴的概率更大。本文的研究结论将为政府出台家庭老年照料的支持政策提供决策参考。     

The influence of parents’ marital dissolutions on children’s attitudes toward family formation

We investigate the influence of parents’ marital dissolutions on their children’s attitudes toward several dimensions of family formation. Hypotheses focus on the role of parents’ attitudes as a mechanism linking parents’ behavior to their children’s attitudes. We test these hypotheses using intergenerational panel data that include measures of parents’ attitudes taken directly from parents and measures of children’s attitudes taken directly from children. Results demonstrate strong effects of parental divorce, remarriage, and widowhood on children’s attitudes toward premarital sex, cohabitation, marriage. childbearing, and divorce. The results also show that parents’ own attitudes link their behavior to their children’s attitudes, although substantial effects of parental behavior remain after controlling for parents’ attitudes.     

Women's Employment History and Their Post-Retirement Health and Resources

The purpose of this study is to assess the degree to which the advantages apparently accruing to employed women are maintained into the post-retirement years. That is, do women who were employed cany with them into the retirement years more social and fmancial resources and do they maintain better health than women who remained largely outside the work force? The importance of this issue increases as greater numbers of women enter and remain in the work force and as our population ages. The study uses a longitudinal cohort design and employs the data from the National Center for Health Statistics' Longitudinal Study on Aging. This analysis uses the core questions from the 1984 National Health Interview Survey, the Supplement on Aging questions from 1984 and the follow-up data on mortality from the National Death lndex from 1984-1990. The data include the 4667 female respondents who were 70 years or older in 1984. Overall, the results suggest that women who have more recent paid employment have better health in their later years than women with no employment or no recent employment. However, for social and fmancial resources the direction of the relationships vary. For example, women with more recent employment have less social resources in the form of spouse and living children; however, they have more social resources in the form of social contacts with both family and friends. Having no history of paid employment increases women's risk of living in poverty and lacking private health insurance, but increases the chances that they own their own home. Interpretations and implications are discussed.     

Endogenous division rules as a family constitution: strategic altruistic transfers and sibling competition

Based on the notions of parental altruism, sibling competition, and family constitution, we present a self-enforcing model where heterogeneous children have economic incentives to supply family-specific merit goods (e.g., companionship) to their parents for securing inheritable wealth and the altruistic parents decide on division rules according to an optimizing behavior. In our analysis of intergenerational cooperation and intragenerational competition, the altruistic parents care about the efficiency of the children-provided merit goods and the equity of the children’s incomes. For an optimal allocation of wealth, the parents strategically partition it into two pools: one to be distributed equally whereas the other unequally according to their children’s supply of merit goods. We look at motivation of the parents in allocating their wealth to the two different pools. The analysis of endogenous division rules has implications for the compatibility between equal postmortem transfers and unequal inter vivos gifts, both of which are consistent with parental altruism.     

Befragtenverhalten bei Touchscreen-Befragungen

Touchscreen-Surveys are a new form of data collection which were recently presented in this journal (issue 3/2003). In this article the behaviour of respondents is analysed, using the data of 11 so far completed survey projects as well as additional research (using the same questionnaire in face-to-face and/or paper&pencil surveys; observation of respondents, interviews with drop-outs). For analytical purposes the process of touchscreen-interviewing is divided into three stages: attracting interested persons, convincing them to take part in the survey and keeping their motivation to give answers up to the last question. It can be shown, that the projects had different ‘success’ in the three stages and for each phase certain factors can be identified. In order to attract people the location of the terminal as well as an eyecatching design of the start-screen are crucial; following up, it is important to make clear what kind of terminal it is, as most people would rather expect an information or entertainment offer, but no request to take part in a survey. Therefore the information provided on the start-screen should be clear, additional announcements like posters or instructions on the admission ticket can be useful. The third challenge is to keep the motivation of respondents to answer all question. Like web-surveys, touchscreen-interviewing is characterised by a relatively large number of drop-outs, but as it can be shown only a small part of them is caused by extrinsic reasons (like companying persons). Therefore the conception of the survey (interesting topics, clear wording) are of high importance as they should be able to maintain the peoples interest, while a clear design and good usability has to enable and support their co-operation. Although most of the drop outs break off after the first question(s) and despite of the described suggestions the length of the interview could be shown as still being the crucial factor for the completion rate.     

The Schooling of Offspring and the Survival of Parents

Contemporary stratification research on developed societies usually views the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage as a one-way effect from parent to child. However, parents’ investment in their offspring’s schooling may yield significant returns for parents themselves in later life. For instance, well-educated offspring have greater knowledge of health and technology to share with their parents and more financial means to provide for them than do their less-educated counterparts. We use data from the 1992–2006 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine whether adult offspring’s educational attainments are associated with parents’ survival in the United States. We show that adult offspring’s educational attainments have independent effects on their parents’ mortality, even after controlling for parents’ own socioeconomic resources. This relationship is more pronounced for deaths that are linked to behavioral factors: most notably, chronic lower respiratory disease and lung cancer. Furthermore, at least part of the association between offspring’s schooling and parents’ survival may be explained by parents’ health behaviors, including smoking and physical activity. These findings suggest that one way to influence the health of the elderly is through their offspring. To harness the full value of schooling for health, then, a family and multigenerational perspective is needed.     

现代夫妻关系对妇女男孩偏好的影响

在影响妇女男孩偏好的因素中，夫妻关系是非常重要的一个方面。文章利用中国人民大学人口与发展研究中心2010年在浙江、湖北和河北3个省份开展的“农村妇女家庭及生育状况”专题调查数据，运用回归模型分析了现代夫妻关系对妇女男孩偏好的影响。研究发现，目前我国的夫妻关系表现出明显的现代特征，而且现代夫妻关系对妇女的男孩偏好起着弱化的作用。家庭地位高、权力资源丰富、对丈夫家依赖程度较低的妇女，她们的男孩偏好比较弱。     

Does It Matter What She Wants? The Role of Individual Preferences Against Unmarried Motherhood in Young Women’s Likelihood of a Nonmarital First Birth

Most young people in the United States express the desire to marry. Norms at all socioeconomic levels posit marriage as the optimal context for childbearing. At the same time, nonmarital fertility accounts for approximately 40 % of U.S. births, experienced disproportionately by women with educational attainment less than a bachelor’s degree. Research has shown that women’s intentions for the number and timing of children and couples’ intent to marry are strong predictors of realized fertility and marriage. The present study investigates whether U.S. young women’s preferences about nonmarital fertility, as stated before childbearing begins, predict their likelihood of having a nonmarital first birth. I track marriage and fertility histories through ages 24–30 of women asked at ages 11–16 whether they would consider unmarried childbearing. One-quarter of women who responded “no” in fact had a nonmarital birth by age 24–30. The ability of women and their partners to access material resources in adulthood were, as expected, the strongest predictors of the likelihood of nonmarital childbearing. Nonetheless, I find that women who said they would not consider nonmarital childbearing had substantially higher hazards of fertility postponement and especially of marital fertility, even after controlling for race/ethnicity, mother’s educational attainment, family of origin intactness, self-efficacy and planning ability, perceived future prospects, and markers of own educational attainment and work experience into early adulthood.     

Explaining the Gender Wealth Gap

To assess and explain the United States’ gender wealth gap, we use the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to examine wealth accumulated by a single cohort over 50 years by gender, by marital status, and limited to the respondents who are their family’s best financial reporters. We find large gender wealth gaps between currently married men and women, and between never-married men and women. The never-married accumulate less wealth than the currently married, and there is a marital disruption cost to wealth accumulation. The status-attainment model shows the most power in explaining gender wealth gaps between these groups explaining about one-third to one-half of the gap, followed by the human-capital explanation. In other words, a lifetime of lower earnings for women translates into greatly reduced wealth accumulation. After controlling for the full model, we find that a gender wealth gap remains between married men and women that we speculate may be related to gender differences in investment strategies and selection effects.     

Mothers’ Sexual Identity and Children’s Health

Sexual minority women face a plethora of structural, socioeconomic, and interpersonal disadvantages and stressors. Research has established negative associations between women’s sexual minority identities and both their own health and their infants’ birth outcomes. Yet a separate body of scholarship has documented similarities in the development and well-being of children living with same-sex couples relative to those living with similarly situated different-sex couples. This study sought to reconcile these literatures by examining the association between maternal sexual identity and child health at ages 5–18 using a US sample from the full population of children of sexual minority women, including those who identify as mostly heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian, regardless of partner sex or gender. Analyses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N?=?8978) followed women longitudinally and examined several measures of their children’s health, including general health and specific developmental and physical health conditions. Analyses found that children of mostly heterosexual and bisexual women experienced health disadvantages relative to children of heterosexual women, whereas the few children of lesbian women in our sample evidenced a mixture of advantages and disadvantages. These findings underscore that to understand sexual orientation disparities and the intergenerational transmission of health, it is important to incorporate broad measurement of sexual orientation that can capture variation in family forms and in sexual minority identities.

     

The Effect of Childhood Family Size on Fertility in Adulthood: New Evidence From IV Estimation

Although fertility is positively correlated across generations, the causal effect of children’s experience with larger sibships on their own fertility in adulthood is poorly understood. With the sex composition of the two firstborn children as an instrumental variable, we estimate the effect of sibship size on adult fertility using high-quality data from Norwegian administrative registers. Our study sample is all firstborns or second-borns during the 1960s in Norwegian families with at least two children (approximately 110,000 men and 104,000 women). An additional sibling has a positive effect on male fertility, mainly causing them to have three children themselves, but has a negative effect on female fertility at the same margin. Investigation into mediators reveals that mothers of girls shift relatively less time from market to family work when an additional child is born. We speculate that this scarcity in parents’ time makes girls aware of the strains of life in large families, leading them to limit their own number of children in adulthood.     

Reporting Errors in Siblings’ Survival Histories and Their Impact on Adult Mortality Estimates: Results From a Record Linkage Study in Senegal

Estimates of adult mortality in countries with limited vital registration (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa) are often derived from information about the survival of a respondent’s siblings. We evaluated the completeness and accuracy of such data through a record linkage study conducted in Bandafassi, located in southeastern Senegal. We linked at the individual level retrospective siblings’ survival histories (SSH) reported by female respondents (n = 268) to prospective mortality data and genealogies collected through a health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS). Respondents often reported inaccurate lists of siblings. Additions to these lists were uncommon, but omissions were frequent: respondents omitted 3.8 % of their live sisters, 9.1 % of their deceased sisters, and 16.6 % of their sisters who had migrated out of the DSS area. Respondents underestimated the age at death of the siblings they reported during the interview, particularly among siblings who had died at older ages (≥45 years). Restricting SSH data to person-years and events having occurred during a recent reference period reduced list errors but not age and date errors. Overall, SSH data led to a 20 % underestimate of ₄₅ q ₁₅ relative to HDSS data. Our study suggests new quality improvement strategies for SSH data and demonstrates the potential use of HDSS data for the validation of “unconventional” demographic techniques.