It’s Family or Government’s Responsibility? A Study of The Factors on Attitudes of Childcare Policy by

• Main Authors: CHEN, JOU-CHUN, 陳柔均
• Other Authors: Tsui-o Tai
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/t4v52m

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 社會學系 === 106 === Childbearing is a critical issue at the societal and individual level. Individually, childbearing is one of the most significant life transitions and yields enduring effects on one’s life trajectory. For a society, low fertility levels may lead to aging population and labor shortages. The fertility rates have been declining over the past several decades in Taiwan. In order to increase fertility levels, the Taiwanese government has implemented family-friendly policies that facilitate the combination of family and work demands for two-earner families with minor children. At the same time, whether public programs are successful in increasing fertility levels depends on whether parents’ needs are met by these public provisions. Thus, it is essential to understand the public attitudes toward these public policies, or more specifically, family programs concerning parental leave and public childcare facilities. Using data from the 2011 Taiwan Social Change Survey (Round 6 Time 2), this research aims to investigate Taiwanese attitudes toward the public childcare and parental leave programs and individual factors that affect their attitudes toward these schemes. The findings show that approximately 35-45 percent of Taiwanese people think that both individuals and the government are responsible for the cost of childrearing and the care of children. In addition, compared to single individuals, couples are more likely to report that both the government and family should support childbearing relative to the odds of attributing childcare responsibility to the family. Implications for policy making are also discussed.