Single-child Families Research Articles

Social and Behavioral Characteristics of Chinese Only Children: A Review of Research

Abstract This review examines a large number of studies focusing on social and behavioral characteristics of only children in China. The results are mixed. Methodological flaws may have contributed to the variability of those results as many of the studies confounded variables, used instruments of doubtful validity, relied on poor observational protocols and used inappropriate statistical analyses. These issues are discussed in the interest of future research regarding single-child families. More dynamic, system-wide factors in the social development of only children should be considered. Cross-cultural comparisons should also be undertaken to develop a more complete understanding of the impact of social, political, cultural and educational factors on family planning and child development.

Linkage Disequilibrium and Linkage Information from One-Child Families

In linkage analysis a single-child family is usually considered to be completely uninformative. This article shows that such a family can provide information on linkage disequilibrium, even if it provides no information on linkage equilibrium. A transition matrix consisting of the recombination fraction and the phase proportion is proposed to study the genetic transmission from a pair of parents to their single child. The information about linkage for a single-child family is shown to be confounded by the phase proportion. This explains why such a family used to be considered uninformative under the assumption of linkage equilibrium. By reparametrizing the recombination fraction and the phase proportion into one parameter, it is demonstrated that extracting information on linkage disequilibrium is feasible. The study of power of the testing method proposed here is carried out by simulation.

"The One-Child Family: International Patterns and Their Implications for the People's Republic of China"

Given the publicity surrounding the single-child campaign in China an important empirical question concerns the current ranking of China vis a vis other countries with respect to single child families. For this study data have been gathered on women with 1 child for the Peoples Republic of China for 1982 and 60 additional developed and developing countries for the period 1970-1982. Nearly 3/4 of the single child rates were based on data from national census publications and UN Demographic Yearbooks; 1/4 of the rates were taken from World Fertility Surveys and other sources. Several single child rates have been computed they refer to all women aged 15-49 irrespective of marital status. The rate used here is the General Single Child Rate (GSCR). It is defined as the % of females 15-49 with 1 child ever born. The average GSCR among the 61 countries is 13.4. The Peoples Republic of China had a GSCR of 12.5% in 1982 compared to the USs 17.5% and Hungarys 25%. On the average more than 1/5 of women 15-49 in the developed countries have had only 1 child as opposed to 13% of the women in the developing countries. The findings demonstrate that the levels in China are not at all close to those of countries reporting the highest levels of single child families. Chinas rates for 1970-82 are shown to be the average rates of the 54 developing countries on the sample. Chinas 1-child family planning campaign has placed a temporary limit on parenthood in the country. It is a unique policy and may be one of the most intriguing social experiments ever initiated. Despite these considerations the results of this comparative analysis indicate that Chinas current levels of single child families are still relatively low. The country has a good distance to go before it begins to approach those developed nations e.g. Hungary and Romania that at present have the highest rates in the world.

The single-child family

The single-child family

The Single-Child Family.

The Single-Child Family.

Population Control in China: Theory and Applications.

Chinas pressing situation of high population growth rates compelled demographers and scientists to develop a model capable of expressing the dynamics of population changes under the countrys planned birth policy thus reflecting the reality of the country. They developed a planned birth model or macro-model of population control consisting of a system of controlled dynamic population equations. This macro-model has been successfully used in Chinas population control program. The book suummarizes those aspects of population control theory that have had direct applications in designing and checking Chinas planned birth program. It includes such topics as population equations with feedback fertility control longterm controlled projections Liapunov stability theory analysis of optimal or feasible population levels and optimization of birth control policy. 2 models are built in this book: one is the continuous model that is a partial differential equation with a boundary-feedback control; and the other is the discrete model that is a difference equation. This is a bilinear system of closed-loop control. Both are sufficiently accurate models to describe Chinas population process. The great advantage of the mathematical models is that population process can be simulated on computers. They provide instruments for population projection and control. Any population control must be based on a theory of stability. For this reason Liapunovs theory of stability is introduced. The theory leads to the use of fertility as the only input of population process. There is a limit in the mean number of children born per woman in the reproductive period. If the observed value of this index persistently exceeds this limit population grows in a manner similar to exponential law. If it is smaller than the limit population declines. When it is equal to this limit total population is eventually a constant. Then the natural increase rate is zero. Both population projections and optimization demonstrate that curbing fertility markedly in the next 20 years is the only measure that can lead China onto the right course of population process. This is the basic reason why the Chinese government is resolute in promoting the single-child family policy.

The Single Child Family and its Impact on the Economic Roles of Women in China

Participation in various kinds of production is an important way for women to raise their economic status in China. However, this is dependent on the level of their labour productivity and the speed at which they can be relieved of the heavy burden of domestic responsibilities. The introduction of the single‐child family programme since 1979 should have immense repercussions on women's productive and reproductive roles. This must be accompanied by social change, e.g. the ending of the strong preference for sons, to produce the desired broader sexual equality.

Health status of abused and neglected children and their siblings

Fifty Greek children who had been neglected or physically abused by one or both parents were studied, along with their families. Of these 18 were single-child families. The other 32 children in the study, including two sets of twins, had a total of 53 siblings. In comparison with their siblings, the abused children were more frequently the result of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. They had a higher incidence of perinatal problems and more illnesses in the first year of life. Almost half had feeding problems, their nutritional status was often poorer than that of their siblings, and they were characterized by their parents as being more difficult than the other children. In some cases there was evidence of a lesser degree of neglect or abuse in the siblings. More than twice as many boys as girls were abused, although there were more girls than boys amongst the siblings. This possibly reflects the higher value and as a result higher expectations that Greek culture places on male children.

Family Size, Birth Order, and Intelligence in a Large South American Sample

The most popular current theory of family influence is the confluence theory, which hypothesizes that a child is helped or hindered in intellectual development according to the average absolute intelligence (mental age) in the family when that child is born. Aggregated data about such a hypothesis have been examined in previous studies from a number of nations, but not from a developing country. Here test scores, family information, and socioeconomic data are analyzed far a sample of over 36,000 college applicants in Colombia. The intellectual effects of family size were not at all the classic pattern: All family sizes smaller than six surpassed a single child family, arguing that differences were populational, rather than intrafamilial. Further analysis showed almost no family-size effect for the lower socioeconomic group among the college applicants, and birth order effects were not constant across family sizes, and not in conformity with the model. In sum, the confluence theory fared badly in these tests.

Space-time and family characteristics of meningococcal disease and haemophilus meningitis.

Significant space-time clustering was found for cases of meningococcal disease. This result was entirely accounted for by the occurrence of a small number of sibling pairs, and clustering was no longer found when these were omitted from the analysis. Meningococcal disease should still be regarded as potentially communicable between siblings. However, in this region of England the current level of infectivity of the disease outside the family is low. Space-time clustering was not convincingly demonstrated for haemophilus meningitis. This emphasizes that, even with diseases of known microbial aetiology, evidence for such clustering may be difficult to obtain. Only a small number of cases of haemophilus meningitis occurred in single-child families. Cases of single-child families tended to occur in older children than the remainder. Although children under three years of age are most susceptible to haemophilus meningitis, it is likely that the organism is usually introduced into the family by an older sibling.

Familial Constraints on Women's Work Roles

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Historical Roots of Occupational SegregationFamilial Constraints on Women's Work RolesElise BouldingElise Boulding Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 1, Number 3, Part 2Spring, 1976Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segregation Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/493281 Views: 23Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1976 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Evan D.G. Fraser Can economic, land use and climatic stresses lead to famine, disease, warfare and death? Using Europe's calamitous 14th century as a parable for the modern age, Ecological Economics 70, no.77 (May 2011): 1269–1279.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.02.010Patricia E. Stevens, Afaf Ibrahim Meleis Maternal role of clerical workers: A feminist analysis, Social Science & Medicine 32, no.1212 (Jan 1991): 1425–1433.https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(91)90204-PSuk‐ching Ho The Single Child Family and its Impact on the Economic Roles of Women in China, Equal Opportunities International 4, no.44 (Apr 1985): 10–12.https://doi.org/10.1108/eb010434Elaine Draper Women’s work and development in Latin America, Studies In Comparative International Development 20, no.11 (Mar 1985): 3–30.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02718316CAROL KEHR TITTLE Career Counseling in Contemporary U.S. High School: An Addendum to Rehberg and Hotchkiss, Educational Researcher 11, no.1010 (Jul 2016): 12–17.https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X011010012Jane Flax A Materialist Theory of Women's Status, Psychology of Women Quarterly 6, no.11 (Jun 2016): 123–136.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1981.tb01065.xJanice M. Beyer, Harrison M. Trice A Retrospective Study of Similarities and Differences between Men and Women Employees in a Job-Based Alcoholism Program from 1965–1977, Journal of Drug Issues 11, no.22 (Apr 1981): 233–262.https://doi.org/10.1177/002204268101100205Louise A. Tilly The Family Wage Economy of a French Textile City: Roubaix, 1872-1906, Journal of Family History 4, no.44 (Dec 1979): 381–394.https://doi.org/10.1177/036319907900400405Jean Stockard, Miriam M. Johnson The social origins of male dominance, Sex Roles 5, no.22 (Apr 1979): 199–218.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287931 Bibliography, (Jan 1979): 299–320.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-580950-4.50042-X

Unequal Neighbours? A French-German Comparison of Family Size Intentions

The neighbouring countries France and Germany show very different levels of fertility. Differences also exist between the two regions of East and West Germany. The aim of this paper is to help close a remaining gap in explaining these differences by applying a cultural concept of role models. Data is based on the German survey “Family-related role models” (2012) and the French survey “Situation de couple, intentions de fécondité et opinions sur la famille”, ELIPSS (2013) offering a new approach to measuring the impact of social norms. The analysis uses multinomial logistic regression. We identified role models regarding the acceptance of childlessness on the one hand and large families on the other, as well as regarding the link between marriage and parenthood and the importance of financial security, suggesting different fertility-related cultures in France and Germany. There is a strong predominance of one general role model in France – that of having at least two children. In Germany, in contrast, there is a dominant role model – the two child family – but there are also several less central role models. The dominant model in France even leads to a sort of self-stigmatisation of individuals who want to stay childless, whereas childlessness is generally accepted in Germany. Role model differences between East and West Germany show a lower acceptance of large families and a higher acceptance of single-child families in the East. Our results highlight the importance of role models for fertility intentions as well as the relevance of cultural dimensions when studying the impact of the institutional framework on fertility.