1,906
Views
9
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Comments

Why Do Women Want Children? The Case of Hong Kong, China: A Lowest-Low Fertility Context

References

  • Adams, J. (2004). The imagination and social life. Qualitative Sociology, 27, 277–297.
  • Becker, G., & Nachtigall, R. D. (1992). Eager for medicalisation: The social production of infertility as a disease. Sociology of Health and Illness, 14, 456–471.
  • Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Bulatao, R. (1981). Values and disvalues of children in successive childbearing decisions. Demography, 18, 1–25.
  • Bulcroft, R., & Teachman, J. (2004). Ambiguous constructions: Development of a childless or childfree life course. In M. Coleman & L. Ganong (Eds.), Handbook of contemporary families (pp. 116–136). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
  • Chen, S. L., Wei, J. S., & Lin, X. H. (2002). Family fertility behavior and fertility aspirations. In S. L. Chen, J. S. Wei, & X. H. Lin (Eds.), Planned fertility and family development in China. Beijing, China: Renmin Publishers.
  • Christopher, K. (2012). Extensive mothering: employed mothers’ conceptions of the good mother. Gender and Society, 26, 173–196.
  • Coleman, L., & Cater, S. (2006). ‘Planned’ teenage pregnancy: Perspectives of young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in England. Journal of Youth Studies, 9, 593–614.
  • Department of Statistics, Singapore. (2015). Population Trends. Retrieved from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/visualising-data/storyboards/population-trends (accessed 20 February, 2016).
  • Ding, G. H. (2001). To have a boy or a girl: The change in the views on fertility in Hong Kong. In S. J. Liu, et al. (Eds.), Social transformation and changes in culture (pp. 259–269).
  • Edin, K., & Kefalas, M. (2005). Promises I can keep: Why poor women put motherhood before marriage. Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press.
  • Gillespie, R. (2000). Disbelief, disregard, and deviance: Discourses of voluntary childlessness. Women’s Studies International Forum, 23, 223–234.
  • Gillespie, R. (2003). Childfree and feminine: Understanding the gender identity of voluntarily childless women. Gender and Society, 17, 122–136.
  • Ireland, M. (1993). Reconceiving women: Separating motherhood from female identity. New York, NY: Guildford.
  • Jeffries, S., & Konnert, C. (2002). Regret and psychological well-being among voluntarily and involuntarily childless women and mothers. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 54, 89–102.
  • Kanaaneh, R. A. (2002). Birthing the nation: Strategies of Palestinian women in Israel. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • Kelly, M. (2009). Women’s voluntary childlessness: A radical rejection of motherhood? Women’s Studies Quarterly, 37, 157–172.
  • Kitzinger, J. (2010). Transformations of public and private knowledge: audience reception, feminism and the experience of childhood sexual abuse. In J. Haaken & P. Reavey (Eds.), Memory matters: Contexts for understanding sexual abuse recollections (pp. 86–104). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Koropeckyj-Cox, T., Romano, V. R., & Moras, A. (2007). Through the lenses of gender, race, and class: Students’ perceptions of childless/childfree individuals and couples. Sex Roles, 56, 415–428.
  • Letherby, G. (1994). Mother or not, other or what? Problems of definition and identity. Women’s Studies International Forum, 17, 525–532.
  • Li, X. P. (1997). The values of children and the structure of values. In T. X. Yuan & W. L. Hu (Eds.), Family, economy and fertility studies in China. Beijing, China: Chinese Economic Press.
  • Loke, A., Yu, P. L., & Hayter, M. (2011). Experiences of sub-fertility among Chinese couples in Hong Kong: A qualitative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 504–512.
  • Lutz, W., Skirbekk, V., & Testa, M. R. (2005). The low-fertility trap hypothesis: Forces that may lead to further postponement and fewer births in Europe. European Demographic Research Papers, 4. Vienna, Austria: Vienna Institute of Demography.
  • McQuillan, J., Greil, A. L., Shreffler, K. M., & Tichenor, V. (2008). The importance of motherhood among women in the contemporary United States. Gender and Society, 22, 477–496.
  • Morell, C. (1994). Unwomanly conduct: The challenges of intentional childlessness. London, UK: Routledge.
  • Morgan, P., & King, R. (2001). Why have children in the 21st century? Biological predisposition, social coercion, rational choice. European Journal of Population, 17, 3–20.
  • Nakano Glenn, E. (1994). Social constructions of mothering: A thematic overview. In E. Nakano Glenn, G. Change, & L. R. Forcey (Eds.), Mothering: Ideology, experience, and agency (pp. 1–31). London, UK: Routledge.
  • Park, K. (2002). Stigma management among the voluntarily childless. Sociological Perspectives, 45, 21–45.
  • Peterson, H. (2014). Fifty shades of freedom: Voluntary childlessness as women’s ultimate liberation. Women’s Studies International Forum, 53, 182–191.
  • Porter, M., Bhattacharya, S., & van Teijingen, E. (2006). Unfulfilled expectations: How circumstances impinge on women’s reproductive choices. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 1757–1767.
  • Retherford, R., & Ogawa, N. (2005). Japan’s baby bust: Causes, implications, and policy responses. East-West Center Working Papers, Population and Health Series, No. 118. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.
  • Schoen, R., Kim, Y. J., Nathanson, C. A., Fields, J., & Astone, N. M. (1997). Why do Americans want children? Population and Development Review, 23, 333–358.
  • Shek, D. T. L. (1996). The value of children to Hong Kong Chinese parents. The Journal of Psychology, 130, 561–569.
  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Thornham, S., Bassett, C., & Marris, P. (2010). Media studies: A reader. New York, NY: New York University Press.
  • Ulrich, M., & Weatherall, A. (2000). Motherhood and infertility: Viewing motherhood through the lens of infertility. Feminism & Psychology, 10, 323–336.
  • UN Data. (2015). Fertility rate (total). Retrieved from http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?.d=WDI&f=Indicator_Code:SP.DYN.TFRT.IN (accessed 4 November 2015).
  • Walby, S. (1997). Gender transformations. London, UK: Routledge.
  • Wollett, A. (1991). Having children: Accounts of childless women and women with reproductive problems. In A. Phoenix, A. Wollett, & E. Lloyd (Eds.), Motherhood: Meanings, practices and ideologies. Gender and psychology (pp. 47–65). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Wong, C. K., Tang, K. L., & Ye, S. Q. (2011). The perceived importance of family-friendly policies to childbirth decision among Hong Kong women. International Journal of Social Welfare, 20, 381–392.
  • Wu, B. T. (1985). Some social factors for the decrease of birth rate in Hong Kong. In X. M. Huan & J. Y. Ji (Eds.), The experiences of Hong Kong development. Hong Kong, China: The Chinese University Press.
  • Yip, S. F., Li, Y. G., Xie, S. Y., & Lam, E. (2006). An analysis of the lowest total fertility rate in Hong Kong SAR. International Conference on Declining Fertility in East and Southeast Asian Countries, Hitotsubashi Collaboration Center, Tokyo, Japan, 14–15 December 2006.
  • Zelizer, V. (1985). Pricing the priceless child. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.