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Fertility Intention, Son Preference, and Second Childbirth: Survey Findings from Shaanxi Province of China

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Abstract

China is characterized by a low fertility intention, a strong preference for sons, as well as a stringent birth control policy. In this study, we used data from a Fertility Intention and Behavior Survey of 2101 questionnaires conducted in 2013 in Shaanxi Province of northwestern China, and event history analysis methods to examine the effect of fertility intention and preference for sons on the probability of having a second child. The results not only validate the correlation of fertility intention with having a second child empirically, even in the low fertility intention and stringent birth control context of China, but also show that women with a preference for sons were less likely to have a second child. Women with son preference turn to sex-selective abortion to ensure that their first child is a son, thus reducing the likelihood of a second child and decreasing the fertility rate. Our findings also shed light on China’s potential fertility policy adjustment.

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Notes

  1. TFR, the abbreviation of total fertility rate, is the average number of children a woman would bear if she survived through the end of the reproductive age span and experienced at each age a particular set of age-specific fertility rates (Preston et al. 2001).

  2. For a detailed discussion, please refer to Chan and Zhang (1999), and Zhang (2012).

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Acknowledgments

This work is jointly supported by the key project of the National Social Science Foundation of China (14AZD096), the HSSTP project of Shaanxi Province (Jiang), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CSO2012-31206).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Quanbao Jiang & Ying Li

  2. Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte

Authors
  1. Quanbao Jiang
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  2. Ying Li
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  3. Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte
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Correspondence to Quanbao Jiang or Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte.

Appendix: The Relevant Survey Questions and How to Derive the Main Variables

Appendix: The Relevant Survey Questions and How to Derive the Main Variables

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Jiang, Q., Li, Y. & Sánchez-Barricarte, J.J. Fertility Intention, Son Preference, and Second Childbirth: Survey Findings from Shaanxi Province of China. Soc Indic Res 125, 935–953 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0875-z

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