Research Progress on Intergenerational Transmission of Fertility Intentions
Fertility intentions refer to individuals'wishes and aspirations regarding the timing,number,and gender preference of children.Fertility intentions have a profound impact on the outcome of childbearing.Family is an important place where fertility intentions are formed and transmitted.Nowadays,many countries in the world are facing the problem of low fertility,and people of childbearing age"do not want to have children,do not dare to have children,and are un-able to have children".It is of great theoretical value and practical significance to make rational use of the family as a car-rier to strengthen the positive intergenerational effects of fertility intentions and weaken the negative effects.Against the above background,this paper summarizes the transmission mechanism of intergenerational fertility inten-tions,based on the multidimensional definition of intergenerational fertility intentions,focusing on economic,social,de-mographic,and biological factors.It clarifies the blocking factors of intergenerational fertility intentions and offers the policy implications and future investigation,to provide effective references to revitalize the fertility intention,reverse the demographic decline,and get out of the fertility dilemma.It has been found that parents and original family implicitly shape individual fertility intentions,that is,fertility inten-tions are intergenerationally transmitted.Specifically,there are significant correlations between parents and children in terms of the number of births,the timing of births,and gender preference,while the intergenerational transmission is het-erogeneous by gender,marital status,geography,ethnic groups,and parity.Since some studies use fertility intentions as an alternative to fertility outcomes,this paper identifies the definition and extension of fertility intentions and behaviors.There are four intergenerational transmission mechanisms for fertility intentions:the economic mechanism,the so-cial mechanism,the demographic mechanism,and the biological mechanism.As for the economic mechanism,the core views are mainly summarized into three categories:(1)the theory of reproductive consumer demand,that is,fertility is regarded as a lasting consumer good;(2)the theory of intergenerational transmission of economic status,that is,inter-generational convergence of economic status leads to intergenerational convergence of fertility intentions;and(3)the theory of family economics,that is,the economic and parenting support provided by parents,and the rules of family re-source allocation influence the number of births and intergenerational transmission of gender preferences.Regarding the social mechanism,the views of existing literature can be summarized into four categories:(1)family socialization,i.e.,parents'conscious conceptual output and children's active imitation;(2)family control,i.e.,control over children will weaken the intergenerational transmission of fertility intentions,especially in culturally conflicting environments;(3)edu-cation,i.e.,in the case of parents with high levels of education,families pursue pluralism,encourage children to delay childbearing,and have equal gender conception,and(4)intergenerational social mobility,i.e.,the intergenerational transmission of fertility intentions due to the disruption of family relationships and the maintenance of original class.The demographic mechanisms can be categorized into three groups:(1)changes in family structure,where family breakdown and reorganization indirectly shape children's fertility intentions;(2)parental sexuality,where parental attitudes towards contraception affect children's fertility intentions;and(3)the degree of democracy in a family,where the rise of individu-alism and the degree of democracy in a family will weaken the intergenerational transmission of fertility intentions.The biological mechanism has been analyzed in existing literature from the perspectives of genetic inheritance of fertility abil-ity,genetic inheritance of fertility intentions,and the combined effects of genetic factors and the environment.Because of the dynamics of these factors,intergenerational fertility intentions may be difficult to perpetuate.In terms of economic factors,income expectations contradicting consumption expectations,lower returns to childbearing,birth penalties,declining pension function,and uncertainty of economic status block the intergenerational transmission of fertil-ity intentions;in terms of socio-cultural factors,the absence of fatherhood,increasing years of education,the spread of individualism,the weakness of the traditional cultural identity,and changes in the family structure result in the weakening of intergenerational transmission of fertility intentions;in terms of demographic factors,the intergenerational transmis-sion of fertility intentions is blocked by demographic changes,the increasing DINK tendency,and career-family dilem-mas;and in terms of biosocial factors,the inheritance of fertility deficits is an important factor in the failure of intergenera-tional transmission of fertility intentions.Based on the above studies,this paper suggests increasing the financial support and improving the mechanism of sharing the cost of childbirth;promoting the inheritance of the traditional marriage and childbearing culture;and continu-ously advocating for gender and intergenerational equality in the family and workplace.Future research can be carried out by refining the definition and characteristics of fertility intentions,strengthening research on the transmission mechanism of fertility intentions,and digging deeper into the mechanism of blocking fertility intentions.
万方数据
维普
