The Influence Of Perceived Income Inequality On Fertility Intention

Income inequality has become a prominent problem on a global scale,and it has caused great damages to economic development,social cohesion,and national health.Previous studies have shown that perceived income inequality,or people’s perception of the country’s current income distribution,will have an important impact on a range of psychological and behavioral tendencies such as subjective wellbeing and individual’s policy preferences.In this article,we argue that in addition to the above psychological results,perceived income inequality will also affect people’s fertility intentions.Based on the theory of life history and the theory of planned behavior,this study regards the fertility intentions as the psychological adaptability of the environment after the individual making rational judgments on the current social resources.The present research carried out 7 studies to examine the effect and mechanism that perceived income inequality on fertility intentions.Study 1 used qualitative interviews to explore factors that influence people’s fertility intentions,and how people perceive the impact of income inequality on their own fertility intentions and on their children.The results showed that economic factors are the most important factors affecting people’s fertility decisions.Interviewees who believe that income inequality will affect their own fertility intentions also express more dissatisfied with their current economic situations,tend to make more upward social comparisons,and believe that the social and economic structures will affect their children’s future development and social status.These psychological characteristics have nothing to do with the absolute income of the individuals.The second part of the research included two correlational studies.Study 3 used a large sample of the Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS)to examine the relationship between perceived income inequality and fertility intention.The results showed that perceived income inequality negatively predicts fertility intention.On this basis,study 4 conducted a questionnaire survey on adult participants.On the one hand,it was statistically proved that belief in social mobility plays a mediating role between perceived income inequality and fertility intention.On the other,the alternative mediation variables,namely the status seeking and perceived competition,were ruled out.The third part of the research included three experimental studies.Study 5 primed the perceived income inequality of adult participants using a “hypothetical social paradigm” and measured belief in social mobility and fertility intention.In order to improve the internal validity and ecological validity of Study 4,study 5 adjusted the structure of the income inequality priming framework,expanded the measurements of fertility intention,and replaced a batch of samples.The two studies had consistently found that compared to low income inequality condition,participants under high income inequality condition are less willing to have more children,prefer smaller family size,and believe that the parenting is more stressful.Belief in Social mobility fully mediates the influence of perceived income inequality on fertility intention.Study 6 further examined how the priming conditions affects the participants’ judgements of the ideal numbers of children whose parents from different income groups.The results showed that perceived income inequality will amplify the difference in the idea numbers of children and parenting pressure among different income groups.Specifically,compared with the low income inequality condition,the participants under the condition of high income inequality are more inclined to think that higher income groups should have more children,and experience less pressure to raise children.Study 7 had two main purposes.First,this study replaced the priming paradigm,using the reading paradigm to conceptually repeat the findings of previous studies And second,by simultaneously priming perceived income inequality and belief in social mobility,we can more rigorously proved the mediating role of belief in social mobility between perceived income inequality and fertility intention.The results showed that compared with the experimental conditions of reading income inequality material plus neutral material,when the participants read the income inequality material plus social mobility material,the negative effect of perceived income inequality is offset by belief in social mobility.That is,the participants under the experimental condition of income inequality plus social mobility are willing to have more children,prefer larger ideal family size,and perceive less pressure to raise children.This series of studies examined the influence of individual perceptions of social and economic structures on their own fertility intentions,and demonstrated the mediating role of belief in social mobility.These findings can provide empirical support for government to formulate policies related to narrowing the income gap,and provide some feasible ideas for our country to improve the fertility intentions of people in the reproductive age.