Educational expansion and attitudes toward son preference in China

Education significantly shapes a society’s cultural characteristics. Based on this perspective, we investigate the influence of educational attainment on son preference attitudes in China utilizing extensive data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Leveraging the 1999 college admissions policy expansion to mitigate endogeneity, we reveal a 4.4 % reduction in preferences for sons with each additional year of education. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that educational attainment has a substantial and positive impact only on women’s gender attitudes. Notably, this effect is substantially significant among urban, educated women. Individuals with higher education levels are inclined to pursue employment in non-agricultural sectors and possess significant access to information; these are potential mechanisms of changes in gender preferences. Additionally, elevated female education levels positively correlate with the proportion of women providing care for aging parents. This indicates a weakening of the ‘raising sons to support parents in old age’ concept.