The influence of China’s family planning policies on fertility transition is widely acknowledged in research studies.However,little is known about how improve-ments in women’s education have shaped reproductive deci...The influence of China’s family planning policies on fertility transition is widely acknowledged in research studies.However,little is known about how improve-ments in women’s education have shaped reproductive decisions of Chinese women across different family planning regimes,particularly at micro level.This study uses retrospective pooled birth history data from five consecutive population and fam-ily planning surveys collected over the period 1982-2006 to systematically examine the interrelationship between family planning policies and women’s education,and their interactive effect on the second and third birth transitions.We hypothesize that family planning policies had a differential influence on educational groups in reduc-ing the transition to second and third births.The results from discrete time com-plementary log-log survival models provide strong evidence of differential repro-ductive behavior of education groups across time in China,and the simultaneous influence of women’s education and family planning policies in lowering risks to higher parities.The rates of progression to second and third births tend to be lower after the introduction of rigid family planning policies,and more importantly,the policy impact persisted even after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors.The increase in women’s education overall had a depressing effect on transi-tion to higher parities,and family planning policies implemented overtime have had differential effects on women from different educational groups.The findings show that both family planning policies and women’s education have been instrumental in shaping fertility behavior in China.展开更多
基金support for this research was provided by the UK Economic and Social Research Council(Reference:ES/J500161/1).
文摘The influence of China’s family planning policies on fertility transition is widely acknowledged in research studies.However,little is known about how improve-ments in women’s education have shaped reproductive decisions of Chinese women across different family planning regimes,particularly at micro level.This study uses retrospective pooled birth history data from five consecutive population and fam-ily planning surveys collected over the period 1982-2006 to systematically examine the interrelationship between family planning policies and women’s education,and their interactive effect on the second and third birth transitions.We hypothesize that family planning policies had a differential influence on educational groups in reduc-ing the transition to second and third births.The results from discrete time com-plementary log-log survival models provide strong evidence of differential repro-ductive behavior of education groups across time in China,and the simultaneous influence of women’s education and family planning policies in lowering risks to higher parities.The rates of progression to second and third births tend to be lower after the introduction of rigid family planning policies,and more importantly,the policy impact persisted even after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors.The increase in women’s education overall had a depressing effect on transi-tion to higher parities,and family planning policies implemented overtime have had differential effects on women from different educational groups.The findings show that both family planning policies and women’s education have been instrumental in shaping fertility behavior in China.
