Socioeconomic differentials in fertility and family formation

Abstract Upon the data from the two surveys which conducted in 2006 and 2011 in Beijing, China by Beijing Population Research Institute, this study examined the change of fertility desire and relationship between fertility desire and fertility behavior. In 2006 Survey, 1025 respondents aged 20-34 were interviewed and 610 of them were followed up in 2011. The study found that the fertility desire is changeable and unstable; meanwhile the change is regular. It is shown the fertility desire has been rising in past five years that the mean number of the ideal children raised from 1.21 in 2006 to 1.30 in 2011. However it is still kept at an ex-low level. The study examined that fertility behavior is lower than fertility desire in developed areas in Beijing, like many post-industrial societies in the West and newly industrialized countries in Asia.
Keywords: fertility desire; fertility behavior; longitudinal research

“Shengnü” is a new social and culture phenomenon in China, especially urban China. Literally meaning “leftover woman”, it is a snazzy and demeaning word to describe unmarried women at age 30 and above. How does China, a country that was characteristic for universal female marriage and known to have a huge army of surplus-man, produce a group of un-marriageable women? This paper argues that the conflict of two competing cultural expectations of hypergamy -- female age and status hypergamy -- creates a mismatch that puts highly educated women at a disadvantage position in the marriage market. Using the 2005 mini-census, we examine the emergence of “Shengnü” phenomenon in Shanghai over the last two decades. We decompose the observed decline in marriage rates to study the contribution of marriage market mismatch, and compare with the findings from the United States and Japan. We further examine individual’s coping strategy facing the market squeeze.

This study describes how the impact of earnings on transition to parenthood changes in the period 1994-2009 in Norway. By comparing changes the earnings-fertility relationship across gender, I cast light on whether the mechanisms linking earnings and the transition to parenthood have become gender neutral over time. Discrete-time hazard regressions are estimated on highly accurate data from the Norwegian population registers, covering all men and women at risk of having a registered first birth in the period 1994-2009. Results show a monotonously positive and substantial impact of annual earnings on first birth rate for men throughout the period. The impact of earnings on the transition to parenthood strengthens over time for both men and women, but more so for women. At the end of the period of study, the earnings-first birth relationship is similar across gender. The results show that despite generous welfare schemes and fairly stable economic conditions, earnings have become increasingly important for the transition to parenthood. The similarity across gender indicates that the mechanisms linking earnings and fertility in Norway have become gender neutral.

Leaving the family of origin and entering into parenthood are two critical steps in the family formation process. Italy, as it is well known, is a country characterized by very low fertility and strong delay in starting an independent life.
Using the data from the survey “Critical aspects in the work life course in a gender perspective” carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) before the global economic crisis (2007) and the data from the survey “Youth Project” carried out in the mid-2012 by the Toniolo Institute for Advanced Studies (Catholic University, Milan) and IPSOS, we analyse a common sample of Italian young adults aged between 21 and 29, in order to evaluate the effect of the Great Recession. Our study focuses on both the intentions of becoming autonomous from the family of origin and of entry into parenthood. We found empirical evidence of a relevant impact of the economic crisis on fertility expectations but not on the intentions of leaving the parental home.

Bangladeshi women prefer to have at least two children norm and who proceed to higher order births mainly constitute a selected group. In this context, this study finds out the summary measures of the third birth intensities by selected socioeconomic characteristics by using Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007 data. Quantum and tempo dimension of fertility has been observed by Kaplan-Meier birth function. The discrete failure time hazard model has been applied to birth interval data. The result shows that two-thirds of the two children mothers have had a third birth within 5 years of their second birth. The cumulative proportions of women having third birth systematically decrease with increasing age at second birth. The majority of women who have given third birth are apparently the lowest educated women in Bangladesh. The sex preference has a higher influence on progression in the transition to third birth. A woman who is son-less with two female children, the risk of having a third birth is higher than that of women with two sons. Previous child death experiences have impact on third birth intensities. The propensity to give a third birth is 1.2 times higher among Muslim women than their non-Muslim counterparts.

During the course of the 20th century, higher education was almost universally linked to lower and later fertility levels among women.

This study aims to make a case for a global comparative research on completed fertility by cohort, sex, and level of education. We review the existing evidence and main theoretical perspectives, put together a variety of research questions, arguments and hypotheses, identify data to be used, and define future research agenda on the topic.

A broad focus on global cross-country perspective will facilitate research into institutional determinants of the observed education-fertility differentials. The question of global convergence or divergence in education-fertility differentials will play a prominent role in our research. We will systematically explore conditions leading to diminishing or persistent education-fertility differentials across cohorts, including the roles of different family policies, norms and values pertaining to reproduction and childcare, gender systems, family and partnership patterns. We will also analyse the gradients of male and female fertility by level of education and link our empirical findings with the existing theoretical perspectives. Finally, we will explore hypotheses linking aggregate cohort intentions earlier in life with eventually completed fertility.

This paper examines the role of micro-level gender equity in explaining low fertility. Building on Peter McDonald’s (2000a; 2000b) theory of gender equity, I expand the concept of gender equity to micro-level by incorporating individual lived experience, attitudes associated with gender roles, and women’s household decision making ability. I select South Korea as a case study in which both institutional forces of lowest-low fertility and massive social and economic changes come into play in shaping women’s childbearing behavior. I address the following two research questions: What are the factors that influence women’s fertility goal attainment over time? Does micro-level gender equity play a large role? This paper is based on three waves of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women & Families from 2007 to 2010. These results can expand upon McDonald, and enhance the ways in which how gender equity can be better conceptualized and operationalized for studies of fertility variations across individuals, even within a single context with lowest-low fertility. The individual-level investigation highlighting the role of micro-level gender equity may provide insights into women’s resilience in making larger family preferences within the institutional context that support lowest-low fertility.

India was among the very first country in the world to launch an official family planning programme , however, it couldn’t realized the ambitious goals and targets that kept changing with time. The use of family planning still remains limited with higher unmet need for contraception and abortion rates, especially among poor Indian women. Though, many previous studies have examined the barriers from both demand and supply perspectives towards use of family planning. However, there is dearth of studies that examine the magnitude of socioeconomic gradient in the use of family planning, unmet need for contraception and induced abortion that needs urgent scientific scrutiny.

Using the District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS, 2007-08) data on 1,22,487 currently married, non-pregnant and fecund women (15-49 y), the present study attempts to examine the magnitude of socioeconomic disparities in contraceptive use, unmet need for contraception and induced abortion in urban India. Rate ratio and logistic regression models were employed to estimate the magnitude in terms of predicted probabilities after adjusting for important socioeconomic, demographic and contextual correlates.

Women from the poorest wealth quintile were significantly less likely to use any form of family planning methods, and more likel

In this study we analyze transitions to first marriage in Kyrgyzstan – one of the post-Soviet states of Central Asia. We use retrospective survey data collected in 2011/12 that contain full partnership histories of a representative sample of men and women in that country. We estimate hazard regression models to examine competing risks of arranged and non-arranged marriage among Kyrgyz and Uzbeks - Kyrgyzstan’s two largest ethnic groups. For Kyrgyz we also analyze risks of marriage resulting from forced bride kidnapping. Our results indicate that nonsymmetrical gender roles manifest themselves in positive effects of employment on marriage for men and negative effects for women. They also show that the effects of educational attainment of bride and groom vary by marriage type. With respect to marriage dynamics our results demonstrate that contrary to a popular notion of a post-Soviet revival of traditional marriage practices, the risks of marriage resulting from bride kidnapping have declined since the collapse of the USSR. Finally, we observe that during the most recent period covered by our data marriage risks declined across all marriage types.

This study examines the association between educational attainment and transition to second birth in Europe in comparative perspective. Previous research suggests that in several countries women’s educational attainment is positively related to second birth intensity, whereas other countries show non-positive or negative relationship. It is also known that analysis of this relationship is complicated due to confounding factors. We investigate the problem using data from the EU Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), specifically the 2005 and 2011 surveys that cover 29 countries. Unlike most previous studies, our research focuses mainly on larger geographical units. We estimate separate discrete-time event history models for major regions and sub-regions of Europe; this analytical approach is complemented by multi-level modelling that provides additional insight to both overall pattern and country-specific deviations. With regard to women’s as well as partner’s educational attainment, several types of relationship to second births are distinguished. We find considerable diversity in both the direction and strength of the education gradient across regions in contemporary Europe.