(Un)married with children? Exploring marriage between parities in Hong Kong

Births outside of marriage are comparatively rare in East Asia, but numbers appear to be rising. Such fertility tends to be concentrated among lower educational and socioeconomic groups which can entrench pre-existing inequalities in systems where such 'non-traditional' family forms are pe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAsian population studies Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 239 - 256
Main Authors Gietel-Basten, Stuart A., Verropoulou, Georgia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.09.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Births
Childbearing
Childbirth & labor
Children
cohabitation
Fertility
First born
Hong Kong
Inequality
Life course
Life events
Marriage
Second Demographic Transition
Socioeconomic status
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Births outside of marriage are comparatively rare in East Asia, but numbers appear to be rising. Such fertility tends to be concentrated among lower educational and socioeconomic groups which can entrench pre-existing inequalities in systems where such 'non-traditional' family forms are penalised. Most research in this area, however, has focused on the relationship between marriage and first birth. Using a large microdataset from Hong Kong, we explore the relationship between marriage and childbearing across the life-course. In particular, we examine the frequency of marriage between parities, and the various predictors of marrying (or not). Rather than 'life-long' cohabiters, we find roughly half of all couples who have a first birth outside of marriage do, in fact, marry before having their second child. The study concludes with some exploratory reasons for the apparently strong continuation of the relationship between marriage and childbearing in Hong Kong and in East Asia more generally.
ISSN:1744-1730
1744-1749
DOI:10.1080/17441730.2021.1984035