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Yue Qian | Pessimistic Future Outlook and Reluctance Toward Marriage and Childbearing in China

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Lecture

Mon, Nov 10, 2025

4:30 PM – 6 PM EST (GMT-5)

Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

Details

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Recent scholarship in family demography has emphasized the importance of incorporating individuals’ perceptions of the future into understanding their marriage and fertility decisions. A separate body of emerging research has drawn attention to a rising pessimistic outlook for the future among ordinary citizens in China. Bridging these two lines of work, the current study draws on three Chinese national surveys conducted in 2012–2022 to examine the relationship between individuals’ future outlook and their marriage and childbearing intentions. Across the three surveys, we find consistent evidence that pessimism — about the economy, societal development, and the future more broadly — is associated with lower intentions to marry and higher intentions to remain childless. Given recent socioeconomic changes, such as the post-COVID-19 economic slowdown, the housing market downturn, and rising youth unemployment, pessimism about the future is likely to grow further among China’s citizens. Efforts by the Chinese government to promote marriage and fertility may face increasing resistance from unmarried, childless people as they perceive family formation to be incompatible with a bleak future.

Where

Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

Speakers

Yue Qian's profile photo

Yue Qian

Professor

University of British Columbia

Dr. Yue Qian is a professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research examines gender, family and work, and inequality in global contexts, with a particular focus on East Asia and North America. She has published over 60 articles in top-tier journals, including Nature Human Behaviour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Demography, and Journal of Marriage and Family. Her research has been featured extensively by international media outlets such as New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and CBC. Her contributions were recognized with UBC’s Killam Research Prize and Public Engagement Award, as well as the Canadian Sociological Association’s Early Investigator Award.

Sponsors

Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China. No image description provided

Hosted By

Center on Contemporary China | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies, Center on Contemporary China (OWNER)