A Study on Factors Influencing the Decision of Married Women Living with Parents-in-law in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yi Ling Chiu, 邱依苓
• Other Authors: Y. P. Wen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/73815797718143946650

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫務管理學研究所 === 97 === Intergenerational coresidence is one of general resident types in Taiwan. According to recent researches, there is a descended trend among intergenerational coresidence. In Taiwan, married men usually carry out the responsibility to take care of their parents. However, their wives usually fulfill the responsibility for their husband. Furthermore, few studies tend to investigate the issue from married women’s point of view. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to examine the trend of Intergenerational coresidence for married women and to analyze factors influencing the decision of married women living with parents-in-law. Data collected from years 1973 and 1998 in the “Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice of Contraception in Taiwan” which surveyed married women who were 20-40 years old. The sample sizes for our research are 4,728 and 1,287, respectively. Two methods are used to analyze the probability of married women living with parents-in-law. The factors influencing the decision of living with parents-in-law are analyzed with logistic regressions. The study finds that probability of living with parents-in-law among married women has a descending trend which declined from 0.4268 in 1973 to 0.3573 in 1998, a 6.96% decrease. However, when taking into account the survival rate of parents-in-law, we gains a larger decrease of 10.81%. According to the results of logistic regressions, for married women in 1973, working is positively related to the probablility of living with parents-in-law, and education is negatively related to the probablility of living with parents-in-law. For married women in 1998, working and education are both positively related to the probablility of living with parents-in law. If parents-in-law are of dependent roles as those of children in Becker’s theory, we expect that women’s working status and education might be negatively related to live with parents-in-law. According to our results, parents-in-law’s roles are quite different from those of children’s. Furthermore, there are different influencing factors across different generations. We can say that Becker’s household labor division theory do not fully apply to the analysis of married women living with parents-in-law in Taiwan. Another finding is that children are also one of factors affect the probablility of living with parents-in-law. For early generation married women, having more than 4 children is positively related to living with parents-in-law; but to later generation married women, having children is positively related to living with parents-in-law. Finally, spouses with living brothers is one of influencing factors, too. For early generation married women, spouses with living brothers is positively related to living with parents-in-law, but negative for later generation married women. Generally, household chores, taking care of children and parents-in-law are considered women’s responsibility. However, more and more married women began to have higher education with higher pay. Therefore, most married women may not give up the opportunity of working. Instead, they will seek other self-fulfillment beyond families. Further research which involves the married women’s psychological factors and parents-in-law’s health condition might help to shed some light on the issue of intergenerational coresidence.