Are Happily Married Women More Likely to Have a Second Child? The Role of Marital Quality in Shaping Fertility Outcomes in South Korea

Soo-Yeon Yoon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Using data from the three waves of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women & Families, I examine the impact of marital quality on fertility intentions and childbirth among married South Korean women with one child. Drawing on the multidimensional approach to marital quality, I measure marital quality with four dimensions, including marital satisfaction, positive interaction, negative interaction, and separation proneness. I use logistic regression to examine the influence of marital quality on 1) fertility intentions, and 2) actual childbirth of a second child between Wave 1 and Wave 3. Results indicate that women with intermediate levels of marital happiness and high levels of positive interaction with their husbands are more likely to intend to have a second child. Women reporting high levels of marital happiness are more likely to give birth to a second child. This suggests that high quality marital relationship may provide the most hospitable environment for having a second child in South Korea.