Publication Type: POSTER
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Son preference, which persists to some degree in the U. S., may predict preferential allocation of resources. We measured college students’ daughter/son preferences and their importance ratings of parent-child activities and expenditures. Men preferred sons on several measures, and preference related to two major expenditure/activity ratings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: this paper examines the effect of son preference on the hazards of having a second and a third birth. With data from South Korea’s 2000 National Fertility Rate and Family Health Survey by the KIHSA (the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs), the hazards of having a second birth among 5,670 married women who have a first birth, and the hazard of having a third birth among 4,325 married women who had two births were examined. These two hazards were analyzed by estimating Cox proportional hazard model. The major covariate in the first analysis is whether or not the first-born was a daughter. In the second analysis the main covariate is whether both of the first two children were girls. In both models five covariates known to have independent effects on the transition to a second (or third) birth are controlled for, namely, her age at the birth of the first (or second) child, whether she lives in urban area, and three dummy variables reflecting her level of education. The results show the important influence of son preference and the family pressure on it on the hazard of having a second baby. Comparing South Korea’s results with those of China, China hazards models were more perfect than those of South Korea, and the association between son preference and fertility of China was stronger than that of South Korea.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With the rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing and divorce in the last quarter of the 20th century, an increasing proportion of children have been exposed not only to life with a single mother but to a variety of new family forms. In this paper we examine the determinants of men’s early parental roles, distinguishing factors that affect being a father versus childless, being a coresident vs. a noncoresident father, as well as those predicting being a stepfather. The data come from the Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the NLSY79, which provide information on the children of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood. The results support previous research showing the economic and educational disadvantage of men not living with their biological children and, to a lesser degree, men who become stepfathers.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper scrutinizes the extent to which taking up political engagement is influenced by the family politicization of the prospective recruit. Political families or dynasties have always existed but social scientists disagree on their current relevance: premodern for some (Clubok et al. 1969; Putnam 1976; Secker 1991), still relevant (Laband & Lentz 1985a, 1985b; Lecompte 1989; Kurtz 1989, 1995; Devos et al. 1997, Hess 1997) but qualitatively changed for others (Van Liefferinge & Steyvers 2009).

Previous research has shown clear career effects of family politicization in local and national politics, i.e. politicians coming from strongly politicized homes start their careers at a younger age and retain this career lead and success. (Laband & Lentz 1985a; Van Liefferinge & Steyvers 2009). However, the present role of the family in political socialization of elites is less clear. In 1965 Kenneth Prewitt formulated his well-known ‘overexposure-hypothesis’, which suggested that children from politicized homes (in broad or strict sense) were more or better politically socialized, which in turn would stimulate their own political action. Does this hypothesis still hold out today, in a time when numerous other possible socialization agents are on hand?

Results will be presented from a mass survey among Belgian (Flemish) election candidates of the 2003 and 2007 federal elections, in which respondents were explicitly asked for perceived family influence on their political engagement. In short, what can kinship tell us?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Most studies of adult children's support to parents have focused on the support provided by daughters, under the assumption that daughters are more fully integrated into family support systems and are more likely than sons to provide assistance to their parents. Although this assumption has found fairly consistent empirical support with respect to personal care to ill or disabled parents, some studies suggest that adult sons' contributions have been minimized. Within this literature, some writers have reported a tendency toward same-gender patterns of support: whereas adult daughters are more likely than sons to provide support to mothers, adult sons are more likely than daughters to provide support to fathers. For their part, older parents have expressed preferences for same-gender helpers among their adult children.

Utilizing a contingent exchange perspective, this study builds upon this body of literature by examining 1) how support provided from adult children to older parents varies not only by the gender of adult children and the gender of parents, but also by the type of support under consideration; 2) how gendered patterns of support to parents may be modified by the context and circumstances of adult children's and parents' lives; and 3) how gendered patterns of support to parents may be modified by whether adult children receive support from their parents.