Global Interactions and Family Formation Pathways in Reform-Era Urban China

Abstract

:Although demographers and family sociologists have long recognized the importance of ideational diffusion to family change, few studies have examined this relationship, especially in non-Western societies. Building on the world society theory, this article proposes a positive relationship between global interactions and family change. Using reform-era urban China as a case study, latent class analysis is first used to map out innovative family behaviors in the Chinese context. Next, a multi-level framework is used to empirically examine the relationship between province-level global interactions and the adoption of innovative individual-level family behaviors. Results from the latent class analysis suggest that the major family change in the Chinese context is the postponement of marriage and childbearing. Results from multi-level models confirm the hypothesis, suggesting that individuals living in provinces with higher levels of global interactions, as measured by foreign direct investment performance, have higher likelihoods of delaying family formation.