Impact of number of children and childrearing values on recognition of homemakers’ value in China: age-period-cohort analysis with data of the World Values Survey (1995–2018)

Utilizing data from the World Values Survey spanning five waves (1995–2018) in China and employing a Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort (HAPC) model, this study examines how the number of children and the childrearing values affect the recognition of homemakers’ value across genders, with attention to period and cohort dynamics in China. Results show that the number of children had no significant effect on the recognition of homemaker value among women and men, while the childrearing values had a positive impact, although this influence diminished among men who highly valued childrearing. Further period–cohort analyses show that the effect of the number of children on recognition of homemakers’ value has become increasingly positive, while the influence of childrearing values remains stable.

This reveals that stronger childrearing values remain associated with greater recognition of homemakers’ value among women under the enduring influence of Confucian ethics. It also suggests that women with a greater number of children have increasingly sought broader societal recognition of homemakers’ value as China’s pronatalist policies have expanded. Conversely, although men had consistently higher recognition of homemakers’ value, largely render context-dependent judgments shaped by family childcare needs and personal benefits.

These findings refine Becker’s quantity-quality trade-off model and advance the gendered political implications of Yan’s neo-familism thesis, providing empirically grounded insights for the construction of fertility support systems in the post-three-child era. This study was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (General Program), grant number 23BSH112, titled “Exploring Pathways for Enhancing Sustainable Livelihoods of Rural Women in Western Ethnic Regions through Digital Empowerment.” College of State Governance, Southwest University, Chongqing, China School of Physical Education, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China Correspondence to Wenfen Bi or Qihong Chu. The authors declare no competing interests.

This study used secondary data from the publicly available World Values Survey, an international research program conducted by the World Values Survey Association. No additional ethics approval was required for this analysis. Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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