WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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WU H. –M. FELDMAN –JIN X. –LI S.
members with the degree of intimacy between individual and network
member to calculate the overall effect of network members using the
expression:
n
Overall effect of network members = ∑ I i × Ai
, (1)
where I is the degree of intimacy of a network member, classified as
very intimate (value=5), intimate (value=4), ecumenical (value=3), not
very intimate (value=2) and not intimate (value=1); A is the attitude of
a network member, scored as without son preference (“stop bearing”;
value=1), weak son preference (“have a second child and stop”;
value=0), and strong son preference (“have more children until have a
boy”; value=-1); n is the number of network members; i refers to the
i th network member with i ∈ ( 1, 2,
K,
n)
.
In the logistic models the overall effect of network members has
three categories: no effect (the overall effect of network members
equals zero), negative effect (the overall effect of network members is
below zero), and positive effect (the overall effect of network members
is above zero).
To form a dichotomous variable, weak ties are divided into “weak
ties absent” and “weak ties present”. Weak ties are present when an
individual’s childbearing discussion network includes at least one
member who is a manager, an owner of a private enterprise, a
professional or technical person, or a government officer. Here “weak
ties absent” is regarded as the reference.
In analyzing attitude of son preference, the effects of all network
members are taken into account, while in analyzing the behaviour of
son preference, only the effects of those network members whom
respondents knew before the pregnancy of their second birth are
considered (we assume that those network members’ attitudes about
son preference never change).
Migration experience: Age at first migration, years of living in
urban areas and times returning home per year are included as an
individual’s migration experience. In the analysis of son preference
attitude, years of living in urban areas is dated from the first migration
until the survey was conducted, and is counted from the first migration
to the year the second child was born in the analysis of son preference
behaviour. Age at first migration, years of living in urban areas and
times returning home per year are all included in the models of attitude
and behaviours of son preference. Age at first migration is numerical.
In the analysis of son preference attitude, years of living in urban areas
are divided into below 1 year, 1-4 years, 5-7 years and 8 years and
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