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The Varying Value of Children

Empirical Results from Eleven Societies in Asia, Africa and Europe

Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany, bernhard.nauck{at}phil.tu-chemnitz.de

Daniela Klaus

Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany, email: daniela.klaus{at}phil.tu-chemnitz.de

Using data from the Value of Children (VOC) replication study in 2002/3, the value of children for their parents is investigated cross-culturally for different age groups in 11 countries (South Korea, People's Republic of China, Indonesia, India, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, South Africa, Ghana, Germany and the Czech Republic). As a prerequisite, the cross-national equivalence of the VOC measurement is established in calculating the overall and the particular country-specific factorial structures. The analysis results in a three-dimensional structure of the VOC, namely comfort, social esteem and affect. This structure is replicated for every national group, and the resulting scales are of high internal consistency as revealed by the respective alpha coefficients. Additionally, the data are also tested for culture-specific response styles, for which the final VOC comparisons are controlled by means of a bias index. The findings indicate children's importance for comfort and esteem to be highest in high-fertility countries with lineage-based kinship systems and low affluence, while it is lowest in low-fertility countries with high affluence and a state-based insurance system. Affect is very high across all countries with only minor variations.

Key Words: cross-cultural equivalence • fertility • response bias • social production function • value of children

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Current Sociology, Vol. 55, No. 4, 487-503 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0011392107077634


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