Son Preference and Fertility in China, South Korea, and the United States

  • Dudley L. PostonJr.
  • Hosik Min
  • Sherry L. McKibben
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis book series (PSDE, volume 35)

Abstract

The sex ratio at birth (SRB) is fairly uniform worldwide (Chahnazarian 1991). Countries with fair to good birth registration data report SRBs of around 104–107 male births for every 100 female births. However, countries such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, and India, among others, have unbalanced SRBs, due likely to their preferences for sons (Guttentag and Secord 1983; Birdsall 1985; Hull 1990; Zeng et al. 1993; Park and Cho 1995; Poston et al. 1997; Poston 2002; Poston et al. 2011). In these countries the numbers of male births are greater than female births, around 110 or more male births per 100 female births.

Keywords

Live Birth Married Woman Chinese Woman Total Fertility Rate Fertility Decline 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Allison, P. D. (1984). Event history analysis: Regression for longitudinal event data. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
  2. Arnold, F., & Liu, Z. (1986). Sex preference, fertility, and family planning in China. Population and Development Review, 12, 221–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Birdsall, N. (Ed.). (1985). The effects of family planning programs on fertility in the developing world. New York: World Bank.Google Scholar
  4. Chahnazarian, A. (1991). Determinants of the sex ratio at birth: Review of the recent literature. Social Biology, 35, 214–235.Google Scholar
  5. Choe, E.-H., Kim, H.-G., & Lee, S.-Y. (1993). Consequences of rapid fertility decline in the Republic of South Korea: Issues and solutions. Journal of Population Health and Social Welfare, 13, 141–157 (in Korean).Google Scholar
  6. Cleves, M. A., Gould, W. W., & Gutierrez, R. G. (2002). An introduction to survival analysis using stata. College Station: Stata Cooperation.Google Scholar
  7. Coombs, L. C. (1977). Preference for sex of children among U.S. couples. Family Planning Perspectives, 9, 259–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Croll, E. J. (1978). Feminism and socialism in China. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
  9. Croll, E. J. (2000). Endangered daughters: Discrimination and development in Asia. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
  10. Greenhalgh, S., & Li, J. (1995). Engendering reproductive policy and practice in peasant china: For a feminist demography of reproduction. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 20, 601–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Gu, B. (1994). Synthesis of findings of 8 country reports: Implications for policy and programs. Beijing: China Population Information and Research Center.Google Scholar
  12. Gu, B., & Roy, K. (1995). Sex ratio at birth in china, with reference to other areas in East Asia: What we know. Asia Pacific Population Journal, 10, 17–42.Google Scholar
  13. Guttentag, M., & Secord, P. F. (1983). Too many women? The sex ratio question. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
  14. Hamilton, L. C. (1998). Statistics with stata 6. Pacific Glove: Brooks Cole.Google Scholar
  15. Hudson, V. M., & den Boer, A. M. (2004). Bare branches: The security implications of Asia’s surplus male population. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
  16. Hull, T. H. (1990). Recent trends in the sex ratio at birth in China. Population and Development Review, 16, 63–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Kaplan, E. L., & Meier, P. (1958). Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 53, 457–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Kim, S. K., Cho, A. J., Lee, S. S., Kim, Y. K., & Song, I. J. (2000). 2000 National fertility rate and family health survey report. Seoul: The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (in Korean).Google Scholar
  19. Larsen, U., Chung, W., & Gupta, M. D. (1998). Fertility and son preference in Korea. Demography, 52, 317–325.Google Scholar
  20. National Center for Health Statistics. (2004). User’s guide. National survey of family growth, cycle 6: 2002. Hyattsville: National Center for Health Statistics.Google Scholar
  21. Park, C. B. (1983). Preference for sons, family size, and the sex ratio: An empirical study in Korea. Demography, 20, 333–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Park, C. B., & Cho, N. H. (1995). Consequences of son preference in a low-fertility society: Imbalance of the sex-ratio at birth in Korea. Population and Development Review, 21, 59–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Pebley, A. R., & Westoff, C. F. (1982). Women’s sex preferences in the United States: 1970 to 1975. Demography, 19, 177–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Pison, G. (2004). Fewer births, but a boy at all costs: Selective female abortion in Asia. Population and Societies, 404, 1–8.Google Scholar
  25. Pollard, M. S., & Morgan, S. P. (2002). Emerging gender indifference: Sex composition of children and the third birth. American Sociological Review, 67, 600–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Population Reference Bureau. (2011). World population date sheet 2011. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau.Google Scholar
  27. Poston, D. L., Jr. (2002). Son preference and fertility in china. Journal of Biosocial Science, 34, 333–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Poston, D. L., Jr., & Gu, B. (1987). Socioeconomic development, family planning, and fertility in china: A subregional analysis. Demography, 24, 531–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Poston, D. L., Jr., & Bouvier, L. F. (2010). Population and society: An introduction to demography. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Poston, D. L., Jr., Gu, B., Liu, P., & McDaniel, T. (1997). Son preference and the sex ratio at birth in China. Social Biology, 44, 55–76.Google Scholar
  31. Poston, D. L., Jr., Conde, E., & DeSalvo, B. (2011). China’s unbalanced sex ratio at birth: Millions of excess bachelors and societal implications. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 6, 314–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Sloane, D. M., & Lee, C.-F. (1983). Sex of previous children and intentions for further births in the United States, 1965–1976. Demography, 20, 353–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. State Family Planning Commission of China. (1998). Data of China fertility and contraceptive survey (whole country) (in Chinese). Beijing: China Population Press.Google Scholar
  34. Unger, J. B., & Molina, G. B. (1997). Desired family size and son preference among Hispanic women of low socioeconomic status. Family Planning Perspectives, 29, 284–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Warren, M. A. (1985). Gendercide: The implications of sex selection. Totowa: Rowman & Allanheld.Google Scholar
  36. West, J., Minhua, Z., Xiangqun, C., & Yuan, C. (1999). Women of China. New York: St. Martin’s Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. World Bank. (2011a). Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of Republic of Korea. Data available online http://data.worldbank.org/country/korea-republic
  38. World Bank. (2011b). Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of China. Data available online http://data.worldbank.org/country/china
  39. Yamaguchi, K. (1991). Event history analysis. Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
  40. Zeng, Y., Tu, P., Gu, B., Xu, Y., Li, B., & Li, Y. (1993). Causes and implications of the recent increase in the reported sex ratio at birth in china. Population and Development Review, 19, 283–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dudley L. PostonJr.
    • 1
  • Hosik Min
    • 2
  • Sherry L. McKibben
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of SociologyTexas A&M UniversityCollege StationUSA
  2. 2.University of South AlabamaMobileUSA
  3. 3.City of HuntsvilleHuntsvilleUSA

Personalised recommendations