both variables are available for both survey years, there is a significant decline during 1991-2003 in the son preference associated with each variable.

# **_Multivariate analysis_**

The results of the multivariate logistic regressions are shown in Table 4. These show the odds ratios of women stating strong son preference, relative to the base category within each variable. We ran models with the same variables for the 1991 and 2003 surveys, to facilitate comparison of the results from the two surveys (Table 4, cols 1 and 2). We also ran a model using the pooled sample of women in both surveys, to test whether there is a secular trend in son preference between 1991 and 2003, independent of the other variables in our model (Table 4, col 3).

In addition to this, we ran a separate regression for the 1991 survey which added variables that were unavailable in the 2003 survey (results not shown). The addition of these variables changes little in the results, except for muting the effect of women’s education. Here we report the results of this model only for these additional variables.

**<u>Education and occupation:</u>** The data indicate that higher levels of women’s education are associated with lower son preference, and that the odds of strong son preference decline more sharply with increasing education in the 2003 survey than in the 1991 survey.  The association is much weaker for husband’s education in 1991, and not significant in 2003.  Women with white collar jobs showed significantly lower odds of strong son preference in 1991, but not in 2003. Husband’s occupation does not show a significant association.

**<u>Rural / urban residence:</u>** Living in urban areas is significantly associated with lower son preference, and the effect is even sharper for metropolises than for small cities.  This is true for both 1991 and 2003, but the differences are sharper in 1991 --- implying that differentials by residence became less sharp by 2003.  Information on previous residence is available only for 1991, and shows significant negative association only for women’s previous residence, not that of their husbands.

**<u>Religion:</u>** Being “Buddhist” is strongly associated with higher son preference in the case of women.  As discussed above, traditional Buddhism was effectively suppressed in Korea, and people who report themselves to be “Buddhist” today are amongst the most conservative adherents of Confucian values.  The association is not significant in the case of their husbands. Unfortunately, these data are not available for 2003.

⎯ **<u>Parental pressure:</u>** If the husband is his parents’ only son and therefore the only source of a continued line of male descendants ⎯ there is a significantly higher likelihood of the woman reporting that she “must have a son.” Interestingly, this association intensifies between the 1991 and 2003 surveys. Living with parents shows a significant positive association with son preference only in the 1991 survey. Although our data do not throw light on why this shift has taken place, one possible reason may be related to the popular perception that the children now seek to live with their parents in order to obtain help with childcare, rather than the traditional expectation of supporting aging parents.<sup>30</sup>

**<u>Women’s autonomy in marriage:</u>** In 1991, older age at marriage was associated with lower son preference.  This relationship is almost non-existent in 2003.  The data (available from only the 1991 survey) on whether the parents decided on the marriage indicate that women with arranged marriages were more likely to show traditional values of son preference.

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