• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.58-67
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level and the reasons of son preference. and the relative importance of related variables among middle-and old-aged Koreans in Chon-buk and Chung-nam area. Subjects were 487 parents of high school girls(243 fathers and 244 mothers). with a mean age of 45.7 years. It was revealed that more than a half of the respondents(52.293) preferred'a son'for the first child, followed by'either nx'(32.6%) and'a daughter'(14.8%). For the second child, a son was preferred nlost(43.7%) , followed by'a daughter'(31.4%) and'either sex'(23.4%) . As the reasons of son preference,'to continue tradition and name of family'marked the highest score (3.42) , followed by'parents prefer son for various reasons'(3.37) , 'should have at least one son'(3.32). and'feel obliged to produce a son for in-law's sake'(3.06). It appeared that sociocultural background was more important for son Preference than individual, economic factors. The most important factors related to a strong son preference were the number of sons at the present, son preference for the first child, parental attitudes and expectations toward children. and income. Suggestions wire made in regard to efforts for gender equality in family and society. and the needs for parent education and population education.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.25-38
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of son preference and the related factors among married women in Metro Manila Philippines and to compare between Filipino women and Chinese-Filipino women in many respects. Local schools were contacted for recruitment of participants (n=206) The results showed that more than a half of the respondents(54.5%) preferred a son for the first child. On the other hand almost a half(44.7%) preferred a daughter for the second child. It is interesting that almost a third of married women showed an equal preference between a son and a daughter for the first child (34.2%) and the second child (31.2%) The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that son preference was most strongly related to women's patriarchal attitude and orientation and secondly to a strong son preference for the first child. Two groups of women Filipino and Chinese-Filipino were compared in the level of parental support and expectation for sons and d ughters perception of women's position in family and society patriarchal attitudes and orientation sex preference for the first and the second child reasons of son preference and demographic characteristics. It was found that filipino women tended to prefer a daughter for the second child much more and to perceive women's position much higher than Chinese-Filipino women. Filipino mothers showed an equal level of support and expectations for sons and daughters much more than Chinese groups. For the reasons of son preference it was notable that Filipino women tended to rely on sons in old age much more than Filipino counterparts. Based on the findings of this study three factors were found strong enough to drawour attention. Daughter preference high position of women and equal support for sons and daughters appeared to be closely related in a meaningful way. Future studies need to focus on the relationships among three factors in depth Three factors suggest some important direction tha a strong son preference country like Korea need to head forward in a near future.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.17-53
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• 1982

Focusing on the strength of son preference obtained from two surveys of the same area, an attempt has been made to measure the change on the IS value scale that many have occurred over the last seven-year period, the underlying assumption here being that the strength of son preference wanes in inverse proportion to the level of society's socio-economic development. Various methodological approaches have been put to test to weigh the importance of the sex preference as a dependent variable, as an independent variable, and as an intermediate variable. A few methodological issues are suggested.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the Korean's value of children and perception of parenting difficulty through the agreement to the three kinds of Korean proverbs: difficulty of parenting, preference of son and value of daughter. Also, this study attempted to identify whether the value of children and the perceived difficulty of parenting measured by the agreement of the proverb is related to the number of children they thought as ideal before marriage and the number of children they actually have. Total 385 married men and women who have a job participated in the survey. Main result is as follows. 1) In most cases, the ideal number of children was at least equal or more than the actual number of children. 2) The subjects showed higher degree of agreement to the proverbs regarding the difficulty of parenting than the preference of son or the value of daughter. 3) The degree of agreement to each kind of proverbs were different in terms of some demographic variables such as age and sex. 4) When the age effect controlled, the ideal number of son had correlation with the agreement to the son-preference proverbs while the ideal number of daughter or total children had no correlation with agreement to any kinds of proverb. The actual number of son was positively correlated with agreement to the son-preference proverbs while actual number of daughter was negatively correlated with it. In conclusion, this study suggests the Korean's value of children has been rapidly changing and it has, in part, an effect on the number of children they want to have or they actually have.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.31-57
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• 2003

This study is intended to examine (l)whether the value of son-for example, old age security and succession of family lineage- causing son preference in the traditional society can be explained at the individual level, (2)whether women without son in the son preference country continue her childbearing until having at least one son or give up the desire of having a son at a certain level. To accomplish these purposes, the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey data are analyzed by the quadratic hazard models controlling unobserved heterogeneity. Unlike ordinary regression model, even omitted variables that affect hazard rates and are uncorrelated with the included independent variables can distort the parameter estimates in the hazard model. Therefore the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator(NPMLE) of a mixing distribution developed by Heckman and Singer is used to control unobserved heterogeneity. Based on the statistical result in this study, the value of son causing son preference is determined at the societal level, not at the individual level. And Korean women without a son did not continue endlessly childbearing during child bearing ages until having a son. In general, they gave up the desire having a son when she had born six daughters continuously. Thus, 30-40 years ago, the number of daughters that women without a son giving up the desire of son was six, which is about the level of total fertility rate during 1960s. In these days, we can often see many women who have only two or three daughters and do not any son. This means that the level of giving up the desire of son, which is one factor representing the strength of son preference, becomes lower. If the strength of son preference did not become much weaker, then the fertility rates in Korea could not reach the below replacement level.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 1993

Sex preference and pregnancy motivation are analyzed using the data of 117 pregnant women in Chonju City. The results indicate that women prefer son, regardless of various sociodemographic variables such as pregnancy experience, number of children, women's education, occupation, income, religion, experience, number of children, women's education, occupation, income, religion, and men's education and occupation. Sex preference is statistically significant by women's marital status and age, and children's sex composition. The analysis on 19 pregnancy motivation items shows that pregnancy motivation differs by women's occupation, marital status, number of children, education and their partner's education. Factor analysis on pregnancy motivation items reveals six dimensions for all pregnancy: economic ability, value of child-care, psychological stability, family lineage, old economic dependency are statistically significant dimensions for son preference compared with daughter preference.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.77-97
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• 1994

Despite the fact that the national family planning program in korea has accomplished its primary goals of fertility reduction and universal contraceptive use, the induced abortion is still high and there has been an increasing trend in the population sex ratio at birth. It seems that the changes in the imbalance of sex ratio have originated from traditonal boy preference. This indicates that much of the current family planning program can be overhauled, so that the program quality could be better controlled, by preventing the number of unwanted pregnancies and the imbalance of sex ratios. This paper aims, therefore, to examine the determinants of induced abortion through the investigation of pregnancy outcomes and their changes over time and to study the interaction between induced abortion, boy preference and the imbalance of sex ratio in Korea. The abortion rate had increased rapidly until the mid-1980s when there were about the same number of abortions as live births. Thereafter, the abortion rate has been maintained at this high level. By parity it shows a much higher abortion rate for a higher parity at all time. From the first parity, the sex composition of previous children stands out as the most important factor in deciding the pregnancy outcome at all time. The probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion increases substantially when parents already had a son. The decline of the desired family size and the sustained strong son preference has made the sex of children a more important factor in the determination of the pregnancy outcome. Women's education has had consistently positive effects on the probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion, but the effect shows a steady decline over time. The premarital pregnancy and urban residence also increase the abortion probability. This study suggests that the main concerns of the family planning program should be to strengthen the social support policies so as to weaken the son preference value leading to a balanced sex ratio and prevention of induced abortions.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-96
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• 1997

The main purpose of this study is to explore the determinants of sex ratio imbalance at birth in Taegu which has experienced the extremely imbalanced sex ratio at birth since mid-1980s. This paper attempts to compare the determinants of sex ratio imbalance at birth, such as sex discrimination against women, son preference, prenatal sex identification followes by sex-selective induced abortions, among married women aged 25 to 44 in Taegu with those in Bay area, California in USA. The research is based on the survey data which were conducted in Taegu, Repulic of Korea and Bay area, California in USA. The findings of this analysis suggest that married women in Taegu are more likely to feel sex discrimination against women than married women in Bay area. Furthermore, the percentage of married women's effort for son bearing before pregnancy is much higher than that of married women in Bay area. We also have found that the percentage of sex-selective induced abortion in Taegu is six times higher than that of married women in Bay area. According to the logistic regression analysis, the determinants of sex-selective induced abortion among married women in Taegu are discrimination against women, son preference, prenatal sex identification. On the other hand, age is the only variable which has an important impact on sex-selective induced abortion among married women in Bay area. From the findings of this study, we can conclude that son preference based on Cofucianism is the most important impact on sex ratio imbalance at birth in Taegu where son preference is much stronger than other regions in Korea. The phenomenon of extremely imbalanced sex ratio at birth in Taegu is the result of combination of these factors, such as strong son preference, seeking to have at least one son within small family size, and prenatal sex identification followed by sex-selective induced abortion.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.79-86
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• 2008

The sex ratio at birth of South Korea is exceeding the natural sex ratio at birth, which is estimated to be about 105. One of the reasons of high sex ratio at birth is due to sex-selective abortion which is caused by strong son preference. The main objective of this study is to identify whether the families which are trying to bear children only until they acquire one son contribute to high sex ratio at birth. As a result, we obtain the theorem that if the number of such families diverge, the sex ratio at birth converges to the natural sex ratio almost surely. Therefore, we conclude that the existence of the families which are trying to bear children only until they receive one son does not affect the sex ratio at birth.

• Proceedings of KHEA Conference
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• 1997.07a
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• pp.127-127
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• 1997