The Influence Of Children Care On Fertility Desire Among IT Industry Female Employees

Population growth problem has been a hot topic among Chinese demographers and sociologists.As the aging phenomenon becoming increasingly critical,the overall two-child policy has been administered.However,this policy didn’t receive the ideal effect,which means the fertility desire of married working women is still very low.In consequent,exploring and analyzing the factors contributing to low fertility desire has a pivotal and meaningful role.Individual factors affecting the fertility desire of married working women include direct(e.g.,caring cost)and indirect(e.g.,career development stress)factors related to child-raring.Therefore,the current study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how children caring cost and career development stress contribute to married working women’s fertility desire.Specifically,study 1 adopted quantitative questionnaire method in 214 married women working in IT industry in Beijing to preliminarily assess the perception of children summer caring cost,career development stress,as well as the relationship between these two factors and fertility desire.Results showed that children summer caring cost and career development stress were negatively correlated with fertility desire,which means when children summer caring cost increases,fertility desire decreases;when career development stress increases,fertility desire decreases as well.Furthermore,study 2 used qualitative interview methods to examine the specific obstacles related to fertility desire that married working women encountered in children summer caring as well as career development,in an attempt to find corresponding solutions to help this population raise fertility desire.Results found that the fertility desire-related obstacles in children summer caring and career development among married working women can be summarized into 3 categories,including father-absent child-rearing pattern,low sense of achievement in family life,and the stressful label of perfectionism.The findings of our current study enrich our understanding about the work-child rearing dilemma that married working women are facing,provide solid empirical foundation for coping with the conflict and stress brought by caring children and career development,as well as offering guidance and insight for future effective intervention programs.