IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v14y2021i2d10.1007_s12187-020-09794-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Exploration of Individual, Familial, and Cultural Factors Associated with the Value of Children among Taiwanese Young Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Yu-Hua Chen

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Chin-Chun Yi

    (Academia Sinica)

Abstract

Because of the extra-low fertility in Taiwan, much attention has been paid to the causal mechanisms accounting for childbearing intention and behavior. Despite the popularity of the economic approach in explaining the fall in fertility, social and psychological factors are still considered to affect young adults’ decisions upon marriage and parenthood. The varying values attached to children have been documented as crucial reasons for having or not having children. Hence, the main purposes of this study are to explore the meaning and dimensions of the value of children perceived by Taiwan’s youth adults and to investigate how the major dimensions of VOC were associated with socio-demographic, familial relational, and cultural-ideological factors. Data are taken from 2550 young people aged 30–33 years, a cohort sample from the Taiwan Youth Project collected in 2017. Through the factor analyses, two dimensions of VOC are extracted, with emotional VOC being valued more than instrumental VOC. The multivariate analyses indicate that the variations in emotional VOC and instrumental VOC are significantly related to individual characteristics, cultural and ideological factors. More importantly, this study demonstrates how elite education has intersected with gender in shaping young adults’ values that attribute to having children. Since the VOC gender gap widens as education selectivity rises, it could explain the tendency toward late and less family formation for better-educated Taiwanese women.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu-Hua Chen & Chin-Chun Yi, 2021. "An Exploration of Individual, Familial, and Cultural Factors Associated with the Value of Children among Taiwanese Young Adults," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 487-510, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-020-09794-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-020-09794-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-020-09794-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-020-09794-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Debra Friedman & Michael Hechter & Satoshi Kanazawa, 1994. "A theory of the value of children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(3), pages 375-401, August.
    2. Wei-hsin Yu & Janet Chen-Lan Kuo, 2016. "Explaining the Effect of Parent-Child Coresidence on Marriage Formation: The Case of Japan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1283-1318, October.
    3. Eleanor Jawon Choi & Jisoo Hwang, 2020. "Transition of Son Preference: Evidence From South Korea," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 627-652, April.
    4. Bernhard Nauck, 2014. "Value of Children and the social production of welfare," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(66), pages 1793-1824.
    5. Sara Cools & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2017. "The Effect of Childhood Family Size on Fertility in Adulthood: New Evidence From IV Estimation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 23-44, February.
    6. Tin-chi Lin, 2009. "The decline of son preference and rise of gender indifference in Taiwan since 1990," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(16), pages 377-402.
    7. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Chun-Hung Lin & Chih-Hai Yang, 2009. "An Analysis of Educational Inequality in Taiwan After the Higher Education Expansion," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 295-305, January.
    9. Vegard Skirbekk & Marcin Jan Stonawski & Setsuya Fukuda & Thomas Spoorenberg & Conrad Hackett & Raya Muttarak, 2015. "Is Buddhism the low fertility religion of Asia?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(1), pages 1-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaorong Gu, 2021. "Introduction: the Value of Children and Social Transformations in Asia," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 477-486, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li-Chung Hu & Yi-Lin Chiang, 2021. "Having Children in a Time of Lowest-Low Fertility: Value of Children, Sex Preference and Fertility Desire among Taiwanese Young Adults," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 537-554, April.
    2. Xiaorong Gu, 2021. "Introduction: the Value of Children and Social Transformations in Asia," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 477-486, April.
    3. Sunnee Billingsley, 2010. "The Post-Communist Fertility Puzzle," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 29(2), pages 193-231, April.
    4. Briole, Simon & Le Forner, Hélène & Lepinteur, Anthony, 2020. "Children’s socio-emotional skills: Is there a quantity–quality trade-off?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    6. Menta, Giorgia & Lepinteur, Anthony, 2021. "Boys don’t cry (or do the dishes): Family size and the housework gender gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 164-188.
    7. Frank Heiland & Alexia Prskawetz & Warren C. Sanderson, 2008. "Are Individuals’ Desired Family Sizes Stable? Evidence from West German Panel Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(2), pages 129-156, June.
    8. Helmut Rainer & Geethanjali Selvaretnam & David Ulph, 2011. "Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in a model of fertility choice," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 1101-1132, July.
    9. Cheng Chen & Sabrina Terrizzi & Shin-Yi Chou & Hsien-Ming Lien, 2021. "The effect of sibship size on educational attainment of the first born: evidence from three decennial censuses of Taiwan," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 2173-2204, October.
    10. Louise Grogan, 2006. "An Economic Examination of the Post-Transition Fertility Decline in Russia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 363-397.
    11. Kristen Harknett & Francesco Billari & Carla Medalia, 2014. "Do Family Support Environments Influence Fertility? Evidence from 20 European Countries," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 1-33, February.
    12. Maria Rita Testa & Stuart Gietel-Basten, 2014. "Certainty of meeting fertility intentions declines in Europe during the 'Great Recession'," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(23), pages 687-734.
    13. Elisabetta Santarelli, 2011. "Economic resources and the first child in Italy: A focus on income and job stability," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(9), pages 311-336.
    14. Tran Thi Minh Thi & Gu Xiaorong & Nguyen Ha Dong, 2021. "Complex Modernization: The Value of Children and Social Transformation in Contemporary Vietnam," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 511-536, April.
    15. Francesca Fiori & Francesca Rinesi & Antonella Pinnelli & Sabrina Prati, 2013. "Economic Insecurity and the Fertility Intentions of Italian Women with One Child," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(3), pages 373-413, June.
    16. Bernhard Nauck, 2014. "Value of Children and the social production of welfare," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(66), pages 1793-1824.
    17. Yuying Tong & Jenny Xin Li & Binbin Shu, 2021. "Is Children’s Academic Performance Valuable to Parents? Linking Children’s Effort Vs. Results and Fathers’ Vs. Mothers’ Subjective Well-Being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 583-605, April.
    18. Alfano, Vincenzo & Capasso, Salvatore, 2021. "Playing dead pool against the contributions system," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    19. Zeynep B. Ugur, 2020. "Does Having Children Bring Life Satisfaction in Europe?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1385-1406, April.
    20. Helmut Rainer & Geethanjali Selvaretnam & David Ulph, 2011. "Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in a model of fertility choice," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 1101-1132, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-020-09794-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.