Having Children in a Time of Lowest-Low Fertility: Value of Children, Sex Preference and Fertility Desire among Taiwanese Young Adults

Li-Chung Hu () and Yi-Lin Chiang ()
Additional contact information
Li-Chung Hu: National Chengchi University
Yi-Lin Chiang: National Chengchi University

Child Indicators Research, 2021, vol. 14, issue 2, No 4, 537-554

Abstract: Abstract Studies on the family often assume that the normative expectations of having children are straightforward. However, in societies with sustained lowest-low fertility, each childbirth is seen as a thoroughly calculated decision. Using data from the Taiwan Youth Project (TYP), this study examines young adults’ reasons and sex preference for having children in Taiwan, where the total fertility rate is among the lowest in the world. We examine whether the values of children in Taiwan capture fertility desires and which ones do so, and how the importance of each value varies by birth parity. The findings show that young adults attach different values to the first, second, and third child. Additionally, while young adults in Taiwan do not consider economic utility as a primary value for having children, economic resources significantly shape their levels of desire to have children. Moreover, son preference has been largely replaced by the preference for a balanced sex composition. These results suggest that non-economic values, economic resources and sex preference intertwine to shape fertility desire in a context of lowest-low fertility. Implications for fertility policies within and beyond Taiwanese society are discussed.

Keywords: Value of children; Fertility desire; Birth parity; Lowest-low fertility; Taiwan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-020-09753-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-020-09753-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... f-life/journal/12187

DOI: 10.1007/s12187-020-09753-5

Access Statistics for this article

Child Indicators Research is currently edited by Asher Ben-Arieh

More articles in Child Indicators Research from Springer, The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().