AUTHOR=Jiang Xiaodong , Cui Huaxue , Shi Tianfeng 

TITLE=Financial Support or Emotional Companion: Childbearing Motivations on Children’s Development in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.690980

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.690980

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Preference of having a son has existed among Chinese parents for centuries. This is in part because sons have to support and provide financial support to elderly parents while married daughters are not responsible to do so under Confucianism. As a result, this study examines the influence of parents’ childbearing motivation (financial support or emotional companion) on children’s development (academic performance and well-being) utilizing empirical data from the 2012 China Family Panel Studies. For this study, 1,541 children (aged 10-15 years) and their parents were survey by questionnaire. Using an exploratory factor analysis, two dimensions of the parents’ childbearing motivation were identified, utilitarian motivation and psychological motivation, and the invariance of the measurement model across the female group and the male group was also tested. Then, using structural equation modeling, results showed that parents’ childbearing motivation with a focus on expected utilitarian benefits decreased children’s expectation of highest education, thus worsening children’s academic performance. On the other hand, emotional/psychological motivation appeared to increase children’s self-esteem, thus improving children’s well-being. A gender difference was also observed.