Effects Of Childbirth Experiences And Competing Preferences On Women's Fertility Intention Of The Second Child

A lot of studies about fertility intention of the second child have been published since the universal two-child policy.However,researchers still have different opinions on it.Based on the data from 2017 East China Fertility survey,the paper focuses on the effects of childbirth experiences and competing preferences on women's fertility intention of the second child.Meanwhile,based on the analysis of the total sample,the paper explores the urban-rural differences and regional differences of fertility intention of the second child.The main findings and conclusions: 1.The women of East China do not have strong intention to have the second child,less than half of them have intention to have the second child.2.The intention is affected by the first child's childbirth experience.Compared with the women who have no child,the women who have a daughter show stronger intention to have the second child.Meanwhile,the women who have a son show weaker second child fertility intention.The preference of son is widespread in both urban and rural areas of East China.It is a powerful force to promote women's fertility intention.The effects of premarital abortion experience and childbirth way are not significant.3.The impact of competing preference on fertility intention is mainly reflected through women's jobs: non-employed women show the strongest fertility intention,and with the rise of the occupation level,the intention will gradually increase.Therefore,we believe that women at lower occupational level have stronger competing preferences.The conflicts between their career development and fertility goal are the most intense.They are more likely to give up their fertility goals.The impact of education may be diluted by other factors such as occupations,income and so on.Although,well-educated women still have stronger intention to have the second child.4.Family income is one of the most important factors.The relationship between family income and intention is U-shaped.The women who have the lowest and highest family income have the strongest intention to have the second child.5.The effect of the universal two-child policy is not completely poor.The couples that both husband and wife have no siblings have the strongest fertility intention.6.Fertility intention is greatly affected by structural factors such as area and community.Although the individual and family factors are controlled,the regional,urban,and rural differences are also great.It also reveals that women's fertility intention is affected by the macro fertility environment.