Research On The Influence Of Chinese Care Mode On Fertility Behavior

With the reduction of fertility and the advent of social aging,increasing fertility has become a new task for China’s population development in the new era.Therefore,the influencing factors of fertility desire and behavior of pregnant women have attracted much attention.As a parenting mode to relieve the reproductive pressure of pregnant women,non-mother care for infants has become an important way to guide the increase of fertility.The infant care modes of non-mother care studied in this paper include intergenerational care and childcare service.Due to the imperfect development of childcare services in China,there are not many studies on the impact of childcare services on women’s reproductive behavior,and few comparative studies have included it and intergenerational care into the framework at the same time.Based on the "cost utility" theory of family childbirth and the theory of substitution of quantity and quality of children,this paper uses the data of 2010,2012,2014,2016 and 2018(the data are used for the tracking survey of Chinese families),and uses the Logit model as the basic econometric model,the propensity score matching method was used to simultaneously study the impact of three types of infant care methods(parental care,intergenerational care and childcare services)on the reproductive behavior of pregnant women with two children.The research results indicate that:(1)Both intergenerational care and childcare services have a positive impact on the second child bearing behavior of pregnant women.The model is verified by balance test and co support test,and the robustness test supports this conclusion.(2)The cost of childcare services plays a moderating role in the mechanism of the impact of childcare services on second child fertility behavior,and the cost of childcare services weakens the positive impact of childcare services on second child fertility behavior.(3)The impact of intergenerational care and childcare services on the second child bearing behavior of pregnant women is heterogeneous,which is reflected in: female individual education,average household income,type of residence(urban and rural),residential structure,and age of the first child.Through this study,it is of reference significance for the government to clarify the unique advantages of intergenerational care and public childcare services in promoting fertility,improve the infant and young child care service system,and identify and improve the shortcomings of the three-child policy during implementation.Based on the empirical research on the impact mechanism of the second child bearing behavior of pregnant women,this paper puts forward the following targeted recommendations: First,make reasonable planning on the number,quality,cost performance,safety,etc.of childcare institutions.Secondly,measures should be taken according to local conditions and people: subsidies should be given to the elderly,male groups and families raising children in public childcare institutions who participate in infant care,and education and training should be carried out for families with children,so as to reduce intergenerational child care conflicts and improve the scientific nature of child care.Finally,relevant policies were issued for unemployed women and employed women to protect women’s employment rights,especially those of pregnant age,and improve their possibility of employment and reemployment after pregnancy.