Value of Children in Urban and Rural Indonesia : Socio-Demographic Indicators, Cultural Aspects, and Empirical Findings

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present the initial findings of the Indonesian sample of the interdisciplinary cross-cultural project "Value of Children and intergenerational Relations" (Nauck & Trommsdorff, 2001; Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2001). This study as a whole has the aim to examine the importance of value of children for parentchild relations over the life-span in different cultures and is an extension and modification of the original "Value of Children (VOC)" study of the 1970s which mainly focused on relations among socio-economic conditions, value of children, and fertility (Arnold et al., 1975; Hoffman & Hoffman, 1973).Indonesia was included in the original VOC study of the 1970's as well as being part of the current project. The Indonesian subset of the original VOC study was conducted on a sample of 1,001 Sundanese and 1,031 Javanese married women between the ages of 15 and 40 as well as their husbands in half of the cases. Research sites were urban and rural areas of Ban dung and Tasikmalaya in West Java (predominantly Sundanese) as well as Solo and Salatiga in Central Java (predominantly Javanese). Data were collected on socio-demographic variables, number of children, family planning as well as perceived advantages and disadvantages of having children, costs of children and characteristics desired in children (Darroch, Meyer, & Singarimbun, 1981). The design of the current VOC study (Nauck & Trommsdorff, 2001; Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2001) differs in some aspects from the original study. In Indonesia, the current VOC study was carried out in Bandung (urban sample) and surroundings (rural sample) in West Java with a predominantly Sundanese population. The sample consists of a one-generation sample with 300 mothers of young children as well as a three-generation sample with 300 mothers of adolescents, their adolescent children, and 100 maternal grandmothers (Total N 1000). It includes issues of the old VOC study as well as additional issues including intergenerational relationships and parenting behavior (Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2001).The present chapter is divided into three sections. In the first section, a general introduction to Indonesia is given as far as socio-demographic indicators are concerned. The second section gives an overview of anthropological facts and cultural values in Indonesia. The last section introduces the research questions, sample and methods of the current VOC study and empirical analyses with respect to the value of children and relations with fertility and various parenting goals are presented.