The Value of Children in Palestine and Turkey

Abstract

Recent data on fertility rates indicate tremendous differences between Palestine and Turkey: whereas the total fertility rate has decreased remarkably over the last few decades in Turkey, a rather stable, high fertility rate can be observed for Palestine. This study applies a reconceptualization of the value of children approach to explain this difference. Analyses were performed using a sample of 249 Palestinian and 622 Turkish mothers from the 2002 international Value of Children study. In a first step, it is revealed that in Palestine children are more important for parents' comfort and social esteem than in Turkey, while only slight country differences are found with respect to children's affection value. This is in line with the study's hypotheses. However, in a second step, the country-specific value of children is proved to be of only very limited predictive power with regard to the birth of children of different parity, which contradicts the expectations. A more detailed analysis suggests that it is rational to follow cultural routines with respect to children in Palestine but not in Turkey.

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