Suchergebnisse

AbstractDespite a half century of below-replacement fertility, Japan is typically not included in discussions and evaluations of the second demographic transition (SDT), a widely referenced framework for understanding family changes and attitudinal shifts associated with very low fertility. I address this limitation by drawing upon a range of published research and data sources to provide an empirical basis for thinking about how the Japanese experience does or does not conform to the general patterns of behavioral and attitudinal change associated with the SDT in the West. From this evidence, it seems clear that the prototypical pattern of family change in Northern and Western Europe has only partially emerged in Japan. The same is true of attitudes, particularly those related to gender. Consistent with depictions of the SDT in Europe, Japan has experienced substantial delays in marriage and childbearing along with notable increases in non-marital cohabitation and divorce. However, non-marital childbearing has remained at negligibly low levels and cohabiting unions have not emerged as an alternative to marriage. Attitudinal data show that endorsement of conventional family patterns and gender roles has declined, but remains at higher levels than in most SDT countries. Taken as a whole, these data describe a distinctive path to very low fertility in which universal forces of social and family change interact with strong normative expectations of two-parent families characterized by a clear gender division of labor.

The overarching objective of this book is to summarize, extend, and update previous research on educational differences in family behavior in Japan. This is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject and the first to evaluate family differentials in Japan in the context of ideas articulated in research on "diverging destinies" and "patterns of disadvantage" as part of the second demographic transition. Much of the previous work in this area has been conducted by the authors (Raymo and Iwasawa), and the longer format of this book allows us to reexamine a wide range of family outcomes using newer data and to provide a thorough and systematic evaluation. The text uses multiple sources of data that cover a period of rapid family change (1970s through 2010s) to describe trends in educational differences in a wide range of family behaviors linked to the well-being of both parents and children. Descriptive analyses provide an overview of period and cohort trends in educational differences in age at first marriage, assortative mating, cohabitation, bridal pregnancy, divorce, remarriage, age at first birth, unintended childbearing, single motherhood, maternal employment, and family-related attitudes. Multivariate analyses provide insights into the processes underlying observed educational differences in family behavior. Patterns of educational differences in family behavior in Japan are evaluated with reference to findings from related research in the United States and other low-fertility Western societies

AbstractIn this study, we evaluate alternative hypotheses about the potentially harmful or beneficial effects of marriage on women's health and examine the factors underlying observed relationships between marriage and health. Using data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, an annual survey of a nationally representative sample of Japanese women (N= 1,610), our study advances current scholarship on marriage and health by focusing on a context characterized by a high degree of gender inequality. Results from models employing different approaches to the potential role of health‐related selection into marriage consistently indicate that marriage is associated with better mental and physical health and that the lower levels of employment among married women play an important role in explaining this relationship. Our findings highlight the importance of considering how the specific pathways linking marriage and health may vary across societies with different gender and institutional contexts.

The authors extend comparative research on educational differences in divorce by analyzing data from Korea. A primary motivation was to assess whether the theoretically unexpected negative educational gradient in divorce in Japan is also observed in Korea. Using vital statistics records for marriages and divorces registered between 1991 and 2006, the authors calculated cumulative probabilities of divorce, by marriage cohort (N =5,734,577) and educational attainment. The results indicated that the relationship between education and divorce was negative even in the earliest cohort and that this negative gradient has become more pronounced in more recent cohorts. Contrary to expectations, however, little evidence was found that the concentration of divorce at lower levels of education was exacerbated by the Asian economic crisis in the late 1990s. The authors discuss these findings in light of conventional emphases on the costs of divorce and highlight the importance of better understanding this distinctive east Asia pattern of divorce.

Research on diverging destinies provides a compelling and influential framework for understanding relationships between socioeconomic bifurcation in family behavior and inequality within and across generations. Articulations of the diverging destinies framework stress its broad relevance for low-fertility societies, but empirical evaluations in East Asia are limited. We address this gap by summarizing and synthesizing scholarship on socioeconomic differentials in family behavior and relationships between family circumstances and children's well-being in mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. We seek an understanding of how and why the diverging destinies framework is or is not helpful for understanding family change and inequality in societies characterized by a highly asymmetric gender division of labor, strong emphasis on family investment in children, and limited public support for families. This article provides a contextual and empirical basis upon which to build subsequent research on family change and inequality in East Asia.

The overarching objective of this book is to summarize, extend, and update previous research on educational differences in family behavior in Japan. This is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject and the first to evaluate family differentials in Japan in the context of ideas articulated in research on "diverging destinies" and "patterns of disadvantage" as part of the second demographic transition. Much of the previous work in this area has been conducted by the authors (Raymo and Iwasawa), and the longer format of this book allows us to reexamine a wide range of family outcomes using newer data and to provide a thorough and systematic evaluation. The text uses multiple sources of data that cover a period of rapid family change (1970s through 2010s) to describe trends in educational differences in a wide range of family behaviors linked to the well-being of both parents and children. Descriptive analyses provide an overview of period and cohort trends in educational differences in age at first marriage, assortative mating, cohabitation, bridal pregnancy, divorce, remarriage, age at first birth, unintended childbearing, single motherhood, maternal employment, and family-related attitudes. Multivariate analyses provide insights into the processes underlying observed educational differences in family behavior. Patterns of educational differences in family behavior in Japan are evaluated with reference to findings from related research in the United States and other low-fertility Western societies.