• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-140
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• 2016

The primary objective of this study was to classify different family values and to examine how university students' perceptions of childbirth differ according to the types of family values. The sample for this study consisted of 601 university students living in the cities of Seoul, Incheon, and the Gyeonggi province. The data were collected using structured questionnaires distributed through an online survey. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation and cluster analysis, One-Way ANOVA and $X^2$ test are applied to analyze the data. The major results of this study are as follows: 1. The values of the university students regarding marriage, children, and familism were used as parameters to categorize the different types of family values on the cluster analysis. The results of the cluster analysis showed that the university students' family values could be classified into three types; "family-centered values", "individual-centered values", and "familism children-centered value". 2. The family values of the university students differed according to each student's gender, age, religion, socioeconomic status, gender-role attitude, and relationships with his or her father and or mother. 3. On average, the number of children that the students would like to have in the future is higher than the number of children that they actually plan to have. 4. The students' perceptions of family planning and low birthrate circumstances differed according to their family values. The university students categorized as having "family-centered values" planned to have the highest number of children in the future and thought that the low birthrate was a very serious issue, whereas the students with "individual-centered values" planned to have the lowest the number of children in the future. 5. To conclude the study, recommendations were made for the government to improve the low birthrate and for facilitate further research regarding this issue.