The Effect of Parents’ Attitudes on Sons’ Marriage Timing

Abstract

Theories of family stability and change, demographic processes, and social psychological influences on behavior all posit that parental attitudes and beliefs are a key influence on their children’s behavior. Though we have evidence of these effects in Western populations, there is little information regarding this social mechanism in non-Western contexts. Furthermore, comparisons of mothers’ and fathers’ independent roles in these crucial intergenerational mechanisms are rare. This paper uses measures from a ten-year family panel study featuring independent interviews with both mothers and fathers in rural Nepal to investigate these issues. We test the association of specific attitudes, rather than broad ideational domains, about childbearing and old-age care with sons’ subsequent marriage behavior. Our results indicate that both mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes have important and independent influences on sons’ marriage behavior. Simultaneous study of both parents’ attitudes reveals that gender-specific parenting contexts can shape the relationship between parental attitudes and children’s behaviors. This crucial mechanism of intergenerational continuity and change is strong in this non-Western setting, with substantial implications for studies of intergenerational influences on behavior in all settings.

The gender divide in urban China: Singlehood and assortative mating by age and education

“…In addition, parents often meddle with their children"s marriage (Jennings, Axinn, and Ghimire 2012). Unlike Western cultures, China has long-standing, strong, intergenerational family ties.…”

Sibling Similarity in Family Formation

“…Research on parental background effects focuses on intergenerational transmission-the degree to which parents and their children are similar in the occurrence and timing of focal family events: fertility (Barber 2001;Murphy 2013;Murphy and Knudsen 2002), marriage (Feng et al 1999;Jennings et al 2012;van Poppel et al 2008), or divorce (Amato 1996;Amato and DeBoer 2001;Diekmann and Engelhardt 1999;Wolfinger 2000). Most of these studies have found relatively modest but significant similarity between parents' and their children's family behavior.…”

The influence of wives’ and husbands’ fertility preferences on progression to a third birth in Nepal, 1997–2009

“…Childbearing occurs almost exclusively within marriage in Nepal (Jennings et al 2012). Moreover, marriage is universal, and couples face social pressure to have children soon after marriage (Yabiku 2005; Jennings et al 2012).…”

“…Moreover, marriage is universal, and couples face social pressure to have children soon after marriage (Yabiku 2005; Jennings et al 2012). Couples tend not to begin using contraception until they have had at least one child, and many use contraception for stopping rather than for spacing births (Axinn and Barber 2001; Ministry of Health and Population [Nepal], New ERA, and ICF International Inc. 2012).…”

“…Childbearing and childrearing are primarily the responsibility of women, which may give them decision-making power in this domain and motivation to achieve their preferences (Bennett 1983; Jennings et al 2012; Testa et al 2014). In fact, there is some evidence that women have long held discreet power within their marriages.…”