JINKO MONDAI KENKYU, 1998

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32 JINKO MONDAI KENKYU, 1998, Vol. 54, N° 4

"Special Issue: Studies on the 11th National Fertility Survey in Japan"

00.32.1 - SASAI, Tsukasa.

Changes in marital fertility and their determinants in Japan.

The author compares recent fertility of marriage cohorts from the mid 1980s to study changes in birth timing. He also conducts a multivariate analysis to determine the socioeconomic factors that have influenced legitimate fertility in recent years and to evaluate the impact of the change in the distribution of socioeconomic characteristics within the population. The main factors taken into consideration are: living environment, type of marriage, the woman's age at the time of marriage, level of education, profession, cohabitation with the parents: the decline of age at marriage and help from the parents are major determinants in current changes in fertility in Japan.

Japanese - pp. 3-18.

(JAPAN, FERTILITY TRENDS, FERTILITY DETERMI-NANTS, COHORT ANALYSIS, AGE AT MARRIAGE.)

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00.32.2 - SATO, Ryuzaburo; IWASAWA, Miho.

Planned fertility and birth control among married couples in Japan: analysis of birth histories.

The authors develop a dynamic model of fertility control among married couples in Japan in order to evaluate the links between their attitudes, behaviors and actual fertility. The concept of planned fertility is the key element in this study, and this becomes apparent in the interviews on birth histories pregnancy by pregnancy. It follows four options: we want a child now, we want a child later on, we don't want any more children, we have no precise plans. The data exploited here are from the Eleventh Japanese National Survey on Fertility conducted in 1997; they concern 9 817 pregnancies among 7 354 married couples (the first marriage for each of the spouses). Regression models made it possible to evaluate the impact of different demographic variables on planned fertility, the use of contraception, its efficiency and the outcome of the pregnancy. Strategies concerning the spacing of births and the ending of reproductive life are strongly influenced by the couple's fertility plans.

Japanese - pp. 19-45.

(JAPAN, FERTILITY DETERMINANTS, FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMMES, EXPECTED FAMILY SIZE.)

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00.32.3 - SHINTANI, Yuriko.

Women's work during marriage and maternity, and its determinants within the context of changes in reproductive behavior.

The author exploits data from the Eleventh Benchmark Survey on birth rate trends to analyze women's work during the period in their life when they get married and have children, changes in their reproductive behavior and the determinants of their activity. In the marriage cohorts formed in the 1980s and afterwards, women's activity rates after marriage and during pregnancy have constantly increased, and separation from the labor force is less and less linked to marriage and increasingly linked to maternity. Among women in work, the interval between marriage and first birth is lengthening. The determinants of feminine activity vary according to the period in the life cycle (before or after marriage, during pregnancy or after childbearing) and according to the type of work.

Japanese - pp. 46-62.

(JAPAN, FEMALE EMPLOYMENT, ACTIVITY RATIO, LIFE CYCLE, MARRIAGE, FERTILITY.)

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00.32.4 - KIM, Ik Ki; PARK, Keong-Suk; KOJIMA, Hiroshi.

Geographic family network of elderly parents in contemporary Korea and Japan.

The authors compare Japan and Korea concerning geographic proximity between elderly parents and their children. Within the context of the Confucian heritage and of accelerated social changes in both countries, they examine how the needs of elderly people and the composition of their families combine with regional constraints to influence geographical distances between generations. The study reveals the dual cultural influence of individualism and traditional attachment to the family. A good standard of living and good health result in elderly Koreans preferring to live with their children, whereas in Japan, cohabitation with the children is more often for reasons of widowhood and of a lack of means of subsistence. In both societies, there remains a strong preference for sons, and for the type of household which includes the extended family; the eldest children continue to feel obliged to live with their parents or close to their parents. However, among younger generations, the family network is more dispersed geographically, which indicates a change in attitudes concerning the family. It also seems that in Korea the family network of people living in rural areas is greatly dispersed due to the massive rural-urban migration of young people during the 1960s and 1970s.

English - pp. 63-84.

(KOREA, JAPAN, AGED, CHILDREN, EXTENDED FAMILY, COHABITATION, SPATIAL DISTANCE.)

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