ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (9): 1661-1676.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.1661 cstr: 32110.14.2025.1661

• 研究报告 • 上一篇    下一篇

生育依附抑或生育自主?丈夫的传统性别角色观念对妻子生育意愿的影响

陈思静1,2, 王震1, 杨莎莎3, 郑鹏1, 何铨4()   

  1. 1浙江科技大学经济与管理学院, 杭州 310023
    2浙江省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心浙江科技大学研究基地, 杭州 310023
    3华东师范大学心理与认知科学学院, 上海 200062
    4浙江工业大学公共管理学院, 杭州 310023
  • 收稿日期:2024-11-24 发布日期:2025-06-26 出版日期:2025-09-25
  • 通讯作者: 何铨, E-mail: quanhe@zjut.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    教育部人文社会科学研究规划基金项目(23YJA840002);国家社会科学基金项目(24BRK021)

Fertility dependence or fertility autonomy? The impact of husbands’ traditional gender role conceptions on wives’ fertility intentions

CHEN Sijing1,2, WANG Zhen1, YANG Shasha3, ZHENG Peng1, HE Quan4()   

  1. 1School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
    2Zhejiang University of Science and Technology Research Base of the Zhejiang Provincial Research Center of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Hangzhou 310023, China
    3School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
    4School of Public Administration, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
  • Received:2024-11-24 Online:2025-06-26 Published:2025-09-25

摘要: 女性的生育意愿不仅受自身性别角色观念的影响, 还可能受到丈夫性别角色观念的制约。对中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)2014年数据(N = 7089)的分析表明, 中国已婚女性存在生育依附现象, 即相比妻子自身的传统性别角色观念, 丈夫的传统性别角色观念对妻子的生育意愿影响更为显著。基于CFPS 2022年数据(N = 555)的补充分析将结果变量替换为生育计划, 结果仍支持生育依附的存在。此外, 生育依附的时空分布并不均衡, 在较早世代、教育水平较低、持农业户口或生活在中西部地区的女性中更为突出。进一步分析发现, 家庭决策权在一定程度上解释了这一现象:传统的“男主外、女主内”家庭分工模式限制了女性的家庭决策权, 从而强化了生育依附, 而决策权的提升则与女性生育自主的增强相伴。上述发现不仅凸显了配偶双方观念和态度在女性生育决策中的作用, 也为基于性别角色观念理解性别平等提供了心理学视角。

关键词: 生育意愿, 生育依附, 生育自主, 性别角色观念

Abstract:

Existing literature has extensively examined the relationship between gender role conceptions and fertility intentions, reaching a relatively stable conclusion that more traditional gender role conceptions are associated with stronger fertility intentions. A notable limitation in this body of research, however, is its predominant focus on individuals’ own gender role conceptions, while largely neglecting the influence of their spouses’ beliefs and attitudes. Overlooking this relational aspect may lead to incomplete conclusions. Diverging from previous studies, this paper investigates the relationship between spouses’ gender role conceptions and individuals’ fertility intentions, with particular emphasis on the influence of husbands’ gender role conceptions on wives’ fertility intentions, given that women are primarily engaged in fertility behaviors. The central question of this study is whether fertility dependency exists among married women in China. Specifically, it examines whether husbands’ gender role conceptions exert a stronger influence on their wives’ fertility intentions than the wives’ own conceptions. If this is the case, the study further explores the factors contributing to this dependency and seeks to provide a theoretical explanation for these dynamics.

This study utilized data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). After data cleaning, a total of 7, 089 valid participants remained. Core variables were constructed as follows: the outcome variable, representing the wife’s fertility intention, was measured by the desired family size (an integer between 0 and 10). The primary predictor variable, representing the couple’s gender role conceptions, was assessed through four items, such as “Men are career-oriented, and women are family-oriented.” The mean score of these four items served as an indicator of gender role conceptions, with higher scores reflecting more traditional perspectives. Results indicate that fertility dependency is significant, and this finding remains consistent regardless of the different measurement approaches and regression models we employed. Specifically, husbands’ gender role conceptions exert a stronger influence on their wives’ fertility intentions than the wives’ own conceptions; notably, this effect does not occur in the opposite direction. Using data from the CFPS 2022 (N = 555), we further investigated the relationship between husbands’ and wives’ gender role conceptions in 2014 and wives’ near-term fertility plan in 2022. The findings indicate that fertility dependency persists; specifically, husbands’ gender role conceptions in 2014 exhibit a stronger correlation with their wives’ fertility plan in 2022 than the wives’ own gender role conceptions.

Furthermore, we examined fertility dependency across different distributions of household decision-making power. The results indicate that fertility dependency is more pronounced among married women whose husbands hold greater authority in five key domains: household expenditures, savings and investments, real estate purchases, child discipline, and major acquisitions. In contrast, when wives have greater decision-making power, fertility dependency diminishes or shifts toward fertility autonomy, highlighting the critical role of household decision-making power in shaping fertility outcomes. Moreover, fertility dependency is not uniformly distributed across time and space. It is particularly evident among women from earlier generations, those with lower educational attainment, rural hukou holders, and residents of central and western China. By contrast, women from later generations, with higher education, non-rural hukou, and living in eastern China exhibit weaker fertility dependency or even fertility autonomy.

The findings of this study carry significant theoretical and practical implications. First, the results indicate that a substantial number of married women in China are influenced by their husbands’ gender role conceptions in fertility decision-making. Neglecting the role of husbands’ beliefs may lead to an incomplete understanding of wives’ fertility decisions. Second, this study offers a psychological perspective on gender equality based on gender role conceptions. It suggests that gender inequality is not only reflected in the unequal distribution of economic resources but also in the asymmetric psychological dependence between spouses. Enhancing women’s decision-making power in household affairs can mitigate fertility dependency and promote fertility autonomy. This, in turn, may contribute to broader social progress and support the development of a more harmonious and sustainable society.

Key words: fertility intentions, fertility dependency, fertility autonomy, gender role conceptions

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