How Can Social Diffusion Theory Be Used to Investigate the External and Internal Influences on South Korean Youths’ Decision-Making Towards Childbirth and Partnering?

Jun Kim, Australian National University

Despite trillions of Korean won being expended by the Korean government to introduce pronatalist policy initiatives since 2005, South Korea’s total fertility rate (TFR) remains the lowest in the world. Fertility scholars have long attributed factors such as precarious economic conditions, the surge of women’s education and participation in the labour market, and longstanding traditional values to the country’s deteriorating fertility rate. However, there is a dearth of literature concerning the extent to which gendered issues influence Koreans’ decisions regarding childbirth, specifically within younger generations. Furthermore, research regarding the social diffusion of attitudes regarding marriage, childbirth and their translation to individual attitudes, alongside the key catalysts for these attitudinal changes, must be investigated further. In essence, Korean society must become a more favourable environment in which young people feel encouraged to exercise their personal autonomy and feel supported should they want to have children. To achieve this, a drastic restructuring of fertility policies and their foci must be undertaken to contribute to the shaping of such an environment. This presentation aims to identify how we can approach answering these identified gaps in the literature.

Keywords: Gender Dynamics, Fertility, Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Families, Unions and Households

See extended abstract.