Publication details
Pořizují si české ženy své děti ke snížení vlastní nejistoty? Posouzení relevance teorie redukce nejistoty skrze rodičovství v českém prostředí
| Title in English | Do women bear children to reduce uncertainty? An uncertainty reduction theory of parenthood and its relevance in the Czech Republic |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | In this paper I deal with theories of the value of children, in particular with an uncertainty reduction theory of parenthood by Debra Friedman, Michael Hechter and Satoshi Kanazawa. I asses the theory in context of the Czech Republic and I do it in two ways. First, consistent with the authors of theory, I compare the results of existing research from the Czech Republic to Friedmans own hypotheses implied from the theory. In addition, I test selected hypotheses including one own with an outstanding data concerning the birth reports collected by the Czech Statistical Office during the period 1993 - 2004. I find that in the Czech Republic and among married couples, those in which a wife has a higher educational deficit to husband and those where a woman entered into marriage in higher age, have higher risks of entry into motherhood. In addition I find that among single women, those with higher education have significantly lower first birth risks compared to lower educated women. And finally, for both married couples and single women, higher the unemployment rate in the region, higher is propensity of women into motherhood. Rather than for an uncertainty reduction theory of parenthood I find evidence for an opportunity costs theory. Due to the database limitation I recommend both theories to be a subject of explicit investigation. |
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