Year: 2018 | Month: March | Volume 7 | Issue 1
Socio-economic Correlates of Values Attributed to Sons and Daughters
Abstract:
The paper examines the values of having sons and daughters as perceived by mothers and how these values change with the socio-economic status of the respondents by analyzing data from Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. The sample comprised of 417 mothers in the age range of 30-49 years. The respondent’s perceptions of the value of children were measured by means of open ended questions. The great variety of mother’s responses were coded and clubbed into three main categories: economic/utilitarian values, socio-cultural values and psychological values. Some very interesting findings emerged from the present investigation. Results indicated that the values of having children in the state of Himachal Pradesh are multi-dimensional. However, sons were desired or valued primarily for economic and socio-cultural reasons such as old age security and continuity of family name regardless of the mother’s education, work status and household income. The instrumental value of sons, especially expected economic help, is inversely related to socio-economic levels and the opposite pattern was noted for most measures of psychological appreciation which becomes important at higher levels of development. On the other hand, daughters were desired for utilitarian reasons by unemployed mothers with fewer years of schooling whereas the employed mothers with higher educational attainment value daughters for emotional support.
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