Values of children, parent-child relationship, and social change in Korea: Indigenous, cultural, and psychological analysis

Abstract

Research on parents' attribution of value to children examines why people decide to have children or not and the number of children they choose to have. In the first part of this paper, the traditional parent-child relationship, family structure, and social changes that have occurred in South Korea during the past 50 years are reviewed. In the second section, the results of the 1972 Values of Children Study conducted in South Korea (Lee & Kim, 1975) are reviewed. In the final section, an empirical study conducted in South Korea with a sample of 314 young mothers and 395 older mothers is reported. The results indicate that psychological benefits are the most important reasons for having a child and personal and financial constraints are the most important reasons for not having a child. These results challenge the economic and utilitarian models and suggest the importance of understanding the psychological, relational, and cultural factors.