Social change and the family : three papers on family formation and parenthood in China

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three papers related to the changes of marriage and family in China. Using quantitative analysis and data from different nationally-representative survey, I examine the cohabitation, marriage entry, and motherhood penalty in China, paying close attention to the interaction between individual family events and macro-level social changes. The first paper focuses on cohabitation. Through exploring the prevalence, social correlates, and consequences of cohabitation, this paper provides empirical evidence of the Second Demographic Transition in China. The second paper examines the effects of demographic and socioeconomic determinants of entry into marriage in urban China spanning the past six decades. This paper finds substantial changes in determinants of marriage, suggesting that the marital behavior in China should be understood within a broader context of institutional changes. The third paper explores the variation of motherhood wage penalty by living arrangement in China. The results show that the wage loss of having children varied substantially by different coresidence pattern, implying that the motherhood penalty should be considered in both nuclear families and extended families. Taken together, based on the idea that it is important to understand the individual family behavior within a broader context of social changes, the three paper of this dissertation shed new light on family changes in China.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology