Second-Birth Intentions of Married Women Based on Socioeconomic and Psychocultural Characteristics

Abstract

South Korea is a country affected by low fertility rates. The purpose of this study is to investigate if employment status of married women or other factors influence the intention of having a second child. One assumes that socio-cultural pressure exists for married couples to have at least one child but the decision whether to have a second child is personal preference. In determination of this personal preference, many variables are taken into consideration; social variables such as household incomes and husband employment status, cultural variables like parent’s instrumental value, and the expected gender of the second child. Because work life plays a large role in Korean society, parenting support variables are also taken into consideration, measured as the husband’s level of participation in child rearing and their workplace parenting support system. Panel data from the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education in 2008 were analyzed using the logistic regression method. This data-set was limited to 677 parents currently having their first and only child. The data-set reveals that when faced with the high costs associated with rearing a second child, instability of husband’s employment, or low expectation of the second child’s gender-intention of subsequent births is markedly lower. In particular, unemployed women are prone to make a decision based on their economic status. It indicates that the Korean government should take differentiated intervention between employed and unemployed married women to overcome the low child birth rate.