Women's Education, Intergenerational Coresidence, and Household Decision-Making in China

Abstract

Motivated by the current trends of rapid population aging and increasing gender equality in education in China, this dissertation examines how extended family relationships influence marital power dynamics and how marital power dynamics influence intergenerational relationships using data from the China Family Panel Studies.

Chapter 1 examines how intergenerational coresidence modifies the association between wives’ education and their decision-making power. Past research on household decision-making has focused on nuclear families and rarely considered extended households. This paper finds that wives’ education increases the probability of their having the final say in nuclear households but not in extended households where they live with their parents-in-law. These findings underscore the importance of examining how intergenerational relationships may influence wives’ decision-making power at home.

Chapter 2 examines whether wives’ and husbands’ parental education is associated with wives’ decision-making power, net of wives’ and husbands’ education. Past research on household decision-making has focused on the husband-wife dyad and rarely considered the role of extended family members. This paper finds that wives’ parental education is positively associated with the probability of wives having the final say, net of the education of wives, husbands, and husbands’ parents. However, this association decreases as husbands’ parental education increases. These findings demonstrate that marital relationships are embedded in extended family relationships. Educational attainment in one generation may have a lingering impact on the marital power of the next generation.

Chapter 3 examines how the wife’s education modifies the association between the husband being the only son and the couple’s living arrangements. Past research on intergenerational coresidence has focused on parent-child dyads and rarely considered how the wives of adult male children influence living arrangement decisions. This paper finds that among couples in which the husband is the only son, education enables rural women to opt out of coresidence with their parents-in-law and enables urban women to live with their own parents. These findings demonstrate that marital power dynamics have important implications for intergenerational relationships.

Together, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of the interaction between marital power dynamics and intergenerational relationships in contemporary China.