KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

2017 KWDI Abstract

 

An examination of generational value differences for the prospect for a gender equal and sustainable future

 

Sooyeon Lee

Insoon Kim

Hyunjung Kim

Minjeong Kim

 

We aim at providing the direction of pronatalist policies through examining the current status of marriage and birth and predicting the future trend in the context of diverse values and their generational differences. Our finding shows that individuals’ value orientations play as important roles in their intention and behavior of marriage and birth as other factors such as their economic situation and policy expectations. The factors that influence positively the intention to have a child (or children) are positive attitude toward parenting, high expectation on children, life satisfaction, personal and household income, the size of residential area and awareness of related policies and those that influence negatively are persons’ aspiration of self-actualization and emphasis on the importance of work. The factors that influence positively persons’ actual birth of a child (or children) are positive attitude toward parenting, individual and household income, awareness of pronatalist policies and those that influence negatively are life satisfaction and the size of residential area. When we measure the difference between one or no birth and more than one birth, we find additional positive variables such as moralistic value, expectation on children and importance of work and negative values such as aspiration of self-actualization and life satisfaction. The positive attitude toward parenting is the most prominent positive factor in both intention and behavior of birth and the pursuit of self-actualization is the most prominent negative factor. This finding of value importance on fertility intention and behavior suggests that pronatalist policies should incorporate individuals’ value system into its logic.

For example, the policies should concern to build a new society where the younger generations’ desire for individual freedom and self-actualization do not conflict with that for having a child. Also, it should take more customized approach by targeting those with more positive attitudes on parenting rather than trying to persuade those with negative attitudes.