Family structure and and fertility behavior in Taiwan

Abstract

The present analysis is based on the 1990 Taiwan Human Resources Survey to study the relationships between family structure, women's complete fertility and birth spacing. Imputed family size, as measured by either the ideal number of children expressed by a married woman or the number of actual surviving children whichever is larger, is used as a proxy of a woman's complete fertility. The results indicate a majority of married couples in Taiwan begin married life living with the husband's parents and later move out to establish a nuclear unit. This limited experience in the extended family exerts an upward pressure on imputed family size even when other relevant variables are statistically controlled. Further, the effect of living with the husband's parents on shorter duration of birth spacing is only limited to the time when the parents provide free child-care for married couples.

Values, change and inter-generational ties between two generations of women in Singapore

“…Many said that while they were prepared to help with the grandchildren, they would prefer to live apart and maintain their own home. It also appears that traditional preferences about the number, sex and spacing of children are weakening in the parent generation (Barber 2000;Barber and Axinn 1998;Chi and Hsin 1996).…”

The influence of a supportive environment for families on women’s fertility intentions and behavior in South Korea

“…Based on the East Asian patrilineal family system, previous studies using Chinese data also highlight the effects of coresidence with parents or (in most cases) in-laws on women's fertility and present mixed findings. Using Taiwanese data, Chi and Hsin (1996) show that living with the husband's parents exerted upward pressure on reproduction during the demographic transition, while Chu, Kim, and Tsay (2014) suggest that coresidence with in-laws delays women's first births. Using data from a Chinese survey, Ji et al (2015) find that neither coresidence with grandparents nor the availability of grandparental childcare support has an effect on fertility intentions.…”

Support for new mothers and fertility in the United Kingdom: Not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child

“…This variation could be due to structural or cultural differences. Shifting attention to low-fertility Asian countries, there is consistency across studies: practical support from parents-in-law, but not parents, correlates positively with fertility (Thornton, Freedman, Sun, & Chang, 1986;Chi & Hsin, 1996;Tsay & Chu, 2005;Fukukawa, 2013). Such consistency may be explained by structural or cultural factors, but may also be a result of the consistent operationalization of support as co-residence with parents(-in-law).…”