Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Modeling Prenatal Son Preference: Some New Perspectives from China

Modeling Prenatal Son Preference: Some New Perspectives from China Abstract: China has since the mid-1980s witnessed an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalance. While the literature agrees that SRB is caused by parents' need to have a son, it is not clear if an increase in SRB reflects an increase in son preference. This study aims at bridging this gap by developing a model to estimate prenatal son preference based on SRB and total fertility rates (TFR). Data on SRB and TFR from China are applied to the model. The results show that since the mid-1980s, prenatal son preference has fluctuated, and trends in SRB and prenatal son preference by province and by rural, township and urban areas sometimes diverge. In order to interpret these results, changing trends in prenatal son preference is discussed in relation to social change in China. The study draws conclusions at two levels. First of all, theoretically, it concludes that increased SRB does not have to signify increasing prenatal son preference when fertility rates fall. Secondly, it concludes that in China, the process of socioeconomic development has diverging impact on son preference, weakening it in some instances, while reinforcing it in others. Modeling son preference as suggested is useful for posing relevant questions with regard to how and why son preference changes. It also has important implications for where, if and how interventions that address skewed SRB should be planned. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Population Review Sociological Demography Press

Modeling Prenatal Son Preference: Some New Perspectives from China

Population Review , Volume 50 (2) – Jul 7, 2011

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sociological-demography-press/modeling-prenatal-son-preference-some-new-perspectives-from-china-95KM50dmpg

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Sociological Demography Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Population Review Publications Limited.
ISSN
1549-0955
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract: China has since the mid-1980s witnessed an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalance. While the literature agrees that SRB is caused by parents' need to have a son, it is not clear if an increase in SRB reflects an increase in son preference. This study aims at bridging this gap by developing a model to estimate prenatal son preference based on SRB and total fertility rates (TFR). Data on SRB and TFR from China are applied to the model. The results show that since the mid-1980s, prenatal son preference has fluctuated, and trends in SRB and prenatal son preference by province and by rural, township and urban areas sometimes diverge. In order to interpret these results, changing trends in prenatal son preference is discussed in relation to social change in China. The study draws conclusions at two levels. First of all, theoretically, it concludes that increased SRB does not have to signify increasing prenatal son preference when fertility rates fall. Secondly, it concludes that in China, the process of socioeconomic development has diverging impact on son preference, weakening it in some instances, while reinforcing it in others. Modeling son preference as suggested is useful for posing relevant questions with regard to how and why son preference changes. It also has important implications for where, if and how interventions that address skewed SRB should be planned.

Journal

Population ReviewSociological Demography Press

Published: Jul 7, 2011

There are no references for this article.