ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, FAMILY BUILDING AND TIMING OF CHILDBEARING
To understand how decisions about family building and timing of childbearing are influenced by economic inequality and mobility.
Method(s):
The survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews in Thailand from February to April 2015 using a nationally representative, probability-based random sample (N = 3,500). Participants estimated the current distribution of income among the rich and poor and then stated their ideal distribution of income. Participants reported their preferred marital status, number of children, and age when to have their first child if they lived in a society with both a) their estimated current level of income inequality and b) their ideal level of income inequality.
Participants estimated economic mobility (i.e., upward mobility to the top 20% income group and downward mobility to the bottom 20% income group). Participants then stated their ideal level of economic mobility. Again, participants reported their preferences on marital status and family building if they lived in a society with a) their perceived current level of economic mobility and b) their ideal level of economic mobility.
Results were analyzed in aggregate and stratified by participants’ gender, age, education, and income. Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05.
Result(s):
Three thousand and five hundred participants completed the interviews. The response rate was 72.4% (3,500 out of 4,833). Mean age was 41.1 years and half of participants (50.8%) were female.
Participants reported a greater desire to be married (70.2% versus 49.7%), have more children (1.5 versus 1.1), and have their first child at an earlier age (26.2 versus 26.6 years old) in a society that reflected their ideal rather than their estimated income distributions, p < 0.001 for all comparisons.
Participants reported a greater desire to be married (71.3% versus 53.4%), have more children (1.5 versus 1.1), and have their first child at an earlier age (26.3 versus 26.5 years old) in a society that reflected their ideal rather than their estimated economic mobility, p < 0.001 for all comparisons.
We found similar results in all subgroup analyses regardless of participants’ gender, age, education and income.
Conclusion(s):
Economic inequality and mobility can significantly influence decisions on family building and timing of childbearing.