Authors
Sehar Ezdi & Ahmet Melik Baş
Abstract
Background: Couples in many countries across Asia exhibit son preferring fertility behaviour This behaviour is mimicked by respective Asian immigrant communities in industrialized societies. In Turkey, son preference is exhibited via the fertility stopping rule, i.e. continuing to have children till the birth of a son. This paper examines the fertility behaviour of Turkish immigrants in Germany to establish whether Turkish immigrants adopt the fertility stopping rule.
Objective: This paper investigates whether the gender of the first and subsequently gender of the first and second child affect transition to second and third births respectively for non-immigrant and immigrant (Turkish) women in Germany. Further, it analyses whether the significance of gender as a determinant of fertility progression varies across subsequent generations of immigrants.
Data and methods: Using Waves 1 and 2 of the German and German-Turkish Generations and Gender Survey, apply Kaplan Meier survival analysis and Cox regression models to examine transitions to second and third births contingent upon gender composition of existing children and migration station for non-immigrant and immigrant (Turkish) women in Germany.
Results: First, Turkish immigrants in Germany exhibit son preferring fertility behaviour at the second and third birth parity. Second, son preference declines over subsequent generations of Turkish immigrants, in Germany.
Contribution: This paper is novel on two fronts: It is the first to analyse son preference and missing women (among immigrants) in Germany. It is unique in its examination of fertility stopping behaviour of Turkish immigrants in industrialized countries.
Keywords
son preference, missing women, fertility stopping rule, migration
Published in Demographic Research