Childbirth and the Residential Distance to the Wife’s Parents: Focusing on the Households Married Since 2000

Abstract

This study used data from the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) to examine how newly married couple's residential distance to the wife’s parents affects the timing of childbirth.. In particular, we closely examined the period between marriage and first childbirths for the households married since 2000. We measured the newly married couple’s residence distance to wife’s parents house in 3 ways: proxy distance measured by km (logged for analysis), categorized distance to 5 groups, and residence in the same macro district. The key findings can be summarized as follows: First, in general, the newly married couples who live in a same macro district with their wife’s parents are likely to have a child earlier than those who do not. Second, the residential distance (measured by logged km) between a newly married couple and the wife’s parents is positively related to having a first baby earlier. However, the analysis with the categorical measure of residence distance reports that the effect of residence distance is not linear in that the two longest distance groups were not statistically different in terms of childbirth probability compared to the reference group which has the shortest distance. Despite several limitations in the study sample, the measurement, and the possibility of residence movement, this study may help build knowledge regarding newly married couple’s behaviors of childbirth. This study concludes with several policy implications for boosting childbirth among newly married couples.