Poster Session on Fertility (2)

The current study examines the role of educational expansion and son preference in the Korean fertility transition. Educational expansion contributes to fertility decline. The implication of son preference on fertility transition, however, is complicated. Son preference would delay fertility transition because strong son preference would lead to additional births among the sonless women. Induced abortion of female fetus due to son preference, instead, may reduce fertility. I examine how educational differentials in fertility changed, how the son preference effect on fertility changed over time, and how the son preference effect depended on women’s educational attainment. Using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA), I estimate logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazard models. Preliminary results point to the followings. First, negative relationship between schooling and parity progression became stronger across birth cohorts. Second, positive relationship between sonlessness and parity progression also became stronger. Finally, son preference effect does not depend upon schooling. The significant interaction between sonlessness and cohort suggests that spread of effective contraceptive methods strengthened the effect of son preference on fertility, contributing to fertility decline.