关键词: 隔代照料, 再生育行为, 积极生育支持, 育龄女性

Abstract:

As women step out of family work and become professionals, grandparent-provided child care has become an important support force for families and childbirth. This study used the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) survey data from 2016, 2018, and 2020, to analyze the impact of intergenerational care on the reproductive behavior of Chinese women of childbearing age. Grandparent-provided child care increased the fertility rate of women of childbearing age from 5.6% to 5.8%. Further, the study’s heterogeneity analysis found that grandparent-provided child care has a more significant impact on the reproductive behavior of women of childbearing age from low-income families and those with low education levels. In the context of relatively scarce social childcare services, grandparent-provided child care plays an important role in women’s reproductive decision-making and behavior. It will take time for China to rebuild its social childcare service system. In the transitional stage, it is necessary to guide the concept of “family state integration” and incorporate grandparent-provided child care that is timely, safe, and low-cost into the construction of a universal childcare service system. This is an effective path to fill the gaps in China’s basic public services, to solve the problem of infant and child care, and to improve the population’s fertility rate.

Key words: grandparents’child care, reproductive behavior, positive fertility support