The association between adoption, gender, and mortality among colonial-era Taiwanese

Son preference is a salient feature of many Asian populations, both contemporary and historical. Though sons are thought to experience a biological disadvantage in survival throughout the life-course, evidence has shown that daughters often fare worse, implicating preferential treatment of sons. In this paper, we examine evidence for gender-based differences in mortality among Taiwanese who were alive during the Japanese occupation. An interesting feature of this population is an unusually high rate of adoption, which has also been linked to higher levels of mortality among Taiwanese. Using event history analysis of longitudinal data collected from household registers, we explore these variables in an attempt to identify the factors associated with the hazard of death among colonial-era Taiwanese.