Intergenerational transmission of reproductive behavior and value of children in Taiwan

Yu-Hua Chen, National Taiwan University
Chin-Chun Yi, Academia Sinica

Taiwan, along with her counterparts in the East Asia, has experienced very low fertility in recent years. To explore the institutional context of low fertility, it is important to consider values of having children, expenses of giving and raising a child as well as the resources a family or a woman has at the given life stage. Analyzing a recently completed 3-generation sample of grandmothers, their daughters, and daughters' adolescent children, the aim of this paper is to examine the relationship of socio-economic contexts, value of children, and reproductive behaviors. To delineate the impact of the institutional context, middle class vs. blue-collar as well as rural vs. urban background are compared. The result shows that psychological benefits of having children are the most reported reasons while personal and financial constraints are reasons not to have a child over generations. Grandmothers and mothers are also compared with respect to fertility-related attitudes and their actual reproductive behaviors.