While fertility has been drastically declining in East Asia, mechanisms accounting for the current trend vary. One noticeable mechanism documented is that the changing value of children affects couples’ fertility decisions which in turn affect their subsequent fertility behaviour. This study will examine the intergenerational transmission of the value of children (VOC) among grandmothers, mothers and teenagers in two Chinese societies: Taiwan and Mainland China. We assume that cultural homogeneity interacts with political and social heterogeneity and may result in different values regarding having or not having children. Data are taken from two corresponding VOC surveys from Taiwan (2005-2007) and from Mainland China (2002-2003). We first compare the value of children for Taiwan and Mainland China with special attention to cultural aspects. Two identified factor solutions are generated for both positive (traditional and emotional) and negative (emotional/psychological and familial/social) VOC. Analyses show that intergenerational transmission of the VOC among three generations is more likely to occur for a positive VOC in the Chinese Mainland sample. We suspect that actual fertility experience results in greater resemblance on the VOC between grandmothers and mothers in both research settings. Among selected structural mechanisms, only rural-urban background has an effect on patterns of intergenerational transmission. The paper ends with a discussion on the importance of culture in explaining the intergenerational transmission of the VOC in Chinese societies.
How global and local forces play out in affecting youths in different places is a most intriguing question for researchers concerned with youths in an era of globalization. The challenge is to develop systematic conceptions to compare and understand the agencies and meanings of global and local practices by young people. This special issue, titled “Youths and varieties of globalism in Asia”, can be seen as an endeavor to fulfill this goal. Four articles collected herein offer new empirical findings and explore new frontiers across Japan, Taiwan and Australia. They together represent a feast of innovative ways to examine the links between young people and globalization.
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