The Second Demographic Transition(SDT)is a useful theoretical framework for explaining the recent trend in many countries of very low fertility combined with alternative union and family types.Although past studies ha...The Second Demographic Transition(SDT)is a useful theoretical framework for explaining the recent trend in many countries of very low fertility combined with alternative union and family types.Although past studies have observed the SDT in many Western societies,whether it is applicable to East Asia remains unclear.Capitalizing on data from the Chinese Census and China Family Panel Studies,we provide estimates of key behavioral and ideational indicators of the SDT.We find that union formation in China has trended increasingly toward patterns commonly observed in the West,including delayed age of marriage and the common practice of premarital cohabitation.While having a lowest-low fertility rate,China has not experienced rising nonmarital childbirths,a key component of the SDT.However,we observe growing tolerance toward nonmarital childbearing and childlessness.Marriages remain relatively stable in China,especially among couples with children.Taken together,our analysis suggests that typically coincident changes in patterns of family behavior associated with the SDT are not occurring simultaneously in China.Moreover,ideational changes are preceding behavioral changes,particularly in attitudes toward nonmarital childbearing and childlessness.Our research suggests a different pattern of the SDT in China,which has been heavily influenced by Confucian culture.展开更多
This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes...This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes towards cohabitation,childrearing,and divorce over a 10-year period in the four East Asian societies.The findings suggest that the second demographic transition,if any in East Asia,is an uneven process between societies,and China's Mainland stands out as the only society in which attitudes had become more conservative,even after controlling for compositional differences in population.In the other three societies,attitudes had shifted to be more liberal.Moreover,the study finds little evidence on the diffusion within societies,given their similar trends across different sociodemographic groups.From an ideational perspective,China's Mainland and the other three East Asian societies illustrated different patterns of attitude changes regarding marriage and family.From a behavioral perspective,trends in attitudes do not always align with demographic patterns at the macro level,especially in China's Mainland.More studies are needed to understand the nuanced differences in ideational shifts between societies and the relationship between ideational and behavioral changes in East Asia.展开更多
文摘The Second Demographic Transition(SDT)is a useful theoretical framework for explaining the recent trend in many countries of very low fertility combined with alternative union and family types.Although past studies have observed the SDT in many Western societies,whether it is applicable to East Asia remains unclear.Capitalizing on data from the Chinese Census and China Family Panel Studies,we provide estimates of key behavioral and ideational indicators of the SDT.We find that union formation in China has trended increasingly toward patterns commonly observed in the West,including delayed age of marriage and the common practice of premarital cohabitation.While having a lowest-low fertility rate,China has not experienced rising nonmarital childbirths,a key component of the SDT.However,we observe growing tolerance toward nonmarital childbearing and childlessness.Marriages remain relatively stable in China,especially among couples with children.Taken together,our analysis suggests that typically coincident changes in patterns of family behavior associated with the SDT are not occurring simultaneously in China.Moreover,ideational changes are preceding behavioral changes,particularly in attitudes toward nonmarital childbearing and childlessness.Our research suggests a different pattern of the SDT in China,which has been heavily influenced by Confucian culture.
基金supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,China(General Research Fund,CUHK14609219)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41901140)the Worldwide Universities Network.
文摘This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes towards cohabitation,childrearing,and divorce over a 10-year period in the four East Asian societies.The findings suggest that the second demographic transition,if any in East Asia,is an uneven process between societies,and China's Mainland stands out as the only society in which attitudes had become more conservative,even after controlling for compositional differences in population.In the other three societies,attitudes had shifted to be more liberal.Moreover,the study finds little evidence on the diffusion within societies,given their similar trends across different sociodemographic groups.From an ideational perspective,China's Mainland and the other three East Asian societies illustrated different patterns of attitude changes regarding marriage and family.From a behavioral perspective,trends in attitudes do not always align with demographic patterns at the macro level,especially in China's Mainland.More studies are needed to understand the nuanced differences in ideational shifts between societies and the relationship between ideational and behavioral changes in East Asia.
