子女数量与中国育龄夫妻的经济依赖

The Number of Children and the Economic Dependency of Chinese Couples in Child-Bearing Age

中国全面二孩政策实施后,人口出生数并未如预期持续上升,其中一个重要原因是生育焦虑,而生育焦虑的背后是子女数量与育龄夫妻之间经济依赖的关联。本文利用CGSS 2017年的数据考察子女数量对夫妻经济依赖的影响,研究发现:(1)对于育龄夫妻而言,已婚女性表现出更高的经济依赖特征,已婚男性则表现出更高的经济自主特征;(2)子女数量的增加会显著提升已婚女性的经济依赖系数,并且会显著降低已婚男性的经济依赖系数,由此拉开育龄夫妻之间的经济差距,这一发现在农村与城市样本中均得到支持与验证。研究结论不仅为私人领域中“停滞的性别平等进程”提供了解释,还对于缓解现阶段育龄夫妻的生育焦虑具有一定的政策启示意义。

The number of births has not kept rising as expected after the implementation of the universal two-child policy.Fertility anxiety is considered as the main reason for the above situation.Behind the fertility anxiety is the correlation between the number of children and the economic dependence of couples in child-bearing age.This study investigated the above issue through the data of the Chinese General Social Survey 2017.Findings suggest that married women were more likely to be economic dependent while married men were more likely to be economic autonomous.In addition,the increase in the number of children significantly increased the economic dependence coefficient of married women and significantly reduced the economic dependence coefficient of married men,which widened the economic gap between married couples.Those findings were supported in both rural and urban samples.And they not only help explain the phenomenon of stalled gender equity,but also have some policy implications for the remission of fertility anxiety of couples in child-bearing age.