Impact of number of children and childrearing values on recognition of homemakers’ value in China: age-period-cohort analysis with data of the World Values Survey (1995–2018)

Utilizing data from the World Values Survey spanning five waves (1995–2018) in China and employing a Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort (HAPC) model, this study examines how the number of children and the childrearing values affect the recognition of homemakers’ value across genders, with attention to period and cohort dynamics in China. Results show that the number of children had no significant effect on the recognition of homemaker value among women and men, while the childrearing values had a positive impact, although this influence diminished among men who highly valued childrearing. Further period–cohort analyses show that the effect of the number of children on recognition of homemakers’ value has become increasingly positive, while the influence of childrearing values remains stable. This reveals that stronger childrearing values remain associated with greater recognition of homemakers’ value among women under the enduring influence of Confucian ethics. It also suggests that women with a greater number of children have increasingly sought broader societal recognition of homemakers’ value as China’s pronatalist policies have expanded. Conversely, although men had consistently higher recognition of homemakers’ value, largely render context-dependent judgments shaped by family childcare needs and personal benefits. These findings refine Becker’s quantity-quality trade-off model and advance the gendered political implications of Yan’s neo-familism thesis, providing empirically grounded insights for the construction of fertility support systems in the post-three-child era.