Sex-composition of children and fertility desire in Vietnam

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate whether the variation in sex composition of children can explain the variation of Vietnamese women's fertility desire. Vietnam has experienced rapid fertility decline since the middle of the 20th century but within a broader context of strong cultural norms regarding son preference. Thus, the sex composition of children is one of the key determinants of reproductive behavior within Vietnam. To my knowledge, no previous study has examined the relationship between sex composition of children and women’s fertility desires in Vietnam. Using data from the 2014 Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) I investigate the association between sex composition of children and desire for additional children among women in reproductive age (15 to 49) across Vietnam (N=5,605). Multivariate logistic regression models show a statistically significant positive association between the sex composition of children and women’s fertility desire, after controlling for social norms of fertility preference, demographic and socioeconomic factors. For each group of women (those with one child, those with two children, and those with three or more children) women with no son are more likely to have higher fertility desire compared to women with at least one son. However, women with both son (s) and daughter (s) tend to have lower fertility desire compared to those who have all sons. My results suggest that Vietnam’s traditional cultural norm of son preference has a strong influence on fertility desire, and potentially reproductive behavior. These findings have implications for family planning policies in Vietnam.