J Happiness Stud (2013) 14:215–233

DOI 10.1007/s10902-012-9325-7

RESEARCH PAPER

Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital

Satisfaction

Wen-Chun Chang

Published online: 26 February 2012

Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Abstract This study investigates the role of strong family ties in the decisions of living
arrangement and intergenerational transfer as well as their effects on marital satisfaction in
Taiwan where cultural traditions emphasize more familial interest and filial obligations.
Even though the rapid economic and democratic developments have led to many adjust-
ments in family structure, this study’s findings suggest that intergenerational relationship
still strongly affects the level of marital satisfaction for married children. The strength of
family ties is positively correlated with the possibilities of intergenerational co-residence
and resource transfer. However, the positive effect of intergenerational co-residence on
marital satisfaction is relatively more apparent for married individuals when they live with
their own fathers. The influences of strong family ties tend to take place along male lineage
under the structure of a patrilineal family.

Keywords Family ties  Living arrangement  Marital satisfaction

1 Introduction

It has been argued that differences in family structure are one of the important reasons
leading to different economic outcomes in various aspects such as fertility, female labor
participation, division of housework, attitude toward gender role, marital satisfaction, as
well as the provisions of social insurance and social welfare (e.g., Fernández and Fogli
2006; Alesina and Giuliano 2007). However, the features of the connection between family
structure and economic outcome may vary dramatically across societies and cultures.
Indeed, the formation of family structure and the interactions among family members are
usually associated with the role of family in substituting or complementing the market
activities and government provisions in society. When the family plays a more significant
role as an economic unit for producing incomes and goods and services for individuals,
then it is expected that stronger family ties and closer interactions among family members

W.-C. Chang (&)

Department of Public Finance, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
e-mail: wchang@mail.ntpu.edu.tw

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will exist. Thus, the strength of family ties is significant for shaping the preferences for
intergenerational living arrangement and resource transfers. These intergenerational
interactions between parents and children hence potentially impact the level of marital
satisfaction for married children.
As the perceptions about the ideal family are largely affected by a society’s social and
cultural contexts, the changes brought along by economic and social developments can
lead to multiple adjustments in the family structure. Many East Asia societies are strongly
influenced by the cultural tradition of viewing the family as the main provider of economic
and social support (Thornton and Lin 1994; Frankenberg et al. 2002; Croll 2006). In other
words, the family supplies the basic socialization, information, and training necessary to
live in the community, and the family pools together resources and responsibilities and
divides the labor of life activities among family members. As a result, individual and
family interests converge together, reinforcing this tradition through cultural norms
emphasizing family loyalty and commitment. However, the effects of family on the eco-
nomic outcomes for East Asia societies undergoing rapid economic and social transfor-
mations have been less understood. It has been speculated that economic and social
developments in these societies could lead to the erosion of family values and filial
obligations (e.g., Lee et al. 1994; Whyte 2004).
The purpose of this study is to discuss two important questions. First, what are the
significant factors explaining the strength of family in an East Asia country? Are they
different from those observed in more individualistic Western societies? Second, for a
society experiencing a high level of economic and social changes, do family ties still play
an important role in shaping the preferences of family structure and consequently do they
have significant effects on the well-being of family members? To address these questions,
we first examine the role of cultural factors, such as religious affiliations, along with other
demographic variables in determining the strength of family ties in Taiwan—a society with
a culture emphasizing collectivism, familial interests, and filial piety while at the same
time experiencing rapid economic and social changes. We further investigate the effects of
intergenerational co-residence and resource transfers stemming from strong family ties on
marital satisfaction in this East Asia society.

2 Previous Literature

There is an expanding body of economic literature from a cultural perspective explaining

the differences in economic outcomes across societies (e.g., Fernández and Fogli 2006;
Giuliano 2007; Guiso et al. 2009; Tabellini 2008). Accompanying a wide range of potential
effects, a society’s culture is often considered as a critical part of those factors establishing
the value systems of social norms and doctrines for people when they are shaping their
preferences for making economic decisions. Culture forms the customary beliefs, social
forms, and material traits of an ethnic, religious, or social group, and as a result it leads to a
particular set of preferences and constraints for people of that group when making eco-
nomic decisions. Among various economic and social outcomes, the previous literature has
documented that culture strongly influences savings, employment, work ethic, effort, trust,
patterns of trade, pace of economic development, and perceptions about fairness and
causes of income inequality. Moreover, a society’s cultural traditions exert a great impact
on defining the ideals of the role of family and the interactions among family members.
Many studies on cultural explanations for the differences in various economic outcomes
across countries have emerged in recent years (e.g. Fernández and Fogli 2006; Bertrand

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 217

and Schoar 2006; Alesina and Giuliano 2007; Fernández 2007; Giuliano 2007; Branco
2007; Guiso et al. 2009; Tabellini 2008). As one of the fundamental elements in deter-
mining the sets of preferences and constraints for people when making economic decisions,
culture has been argued to have strong effects on shaping the role of family in providing
economic production and consumption for its members, aside from those demands that can
be satisfied through the market and the government. In particular, the structure of family
relationships and the role of family in providing goods and services influence many eco-
nomic behaviors and attitudes.
Ever since the early development of the economic theory on family by Becker (1973,
1974, 1981), studies on family structure and its economic outcomes have continuously
drawn much interest from researchers in the fields of economics, political science, and
sociology. Previous studies have found that family structure is mainly determined by
decisions over the allocations of market and household activities between husbands and
wives as well as intergenerational support between parents and children (e.g. Fernández
and Fogli 2006; Fernández 2007; Manacorda and Moretti 2006; Behrman and Rosenzweig
2006; Billari and Tabellini 2008). These decisions are related to what roles men, women,
parents, and children have in achieving the efficient allocations of market and household
activities among themselves. Thus, the decisions of fertility, living arrangement, division
of housework, and labor participation for women are correlated to the preferences for
family structure.
The beliefs and value system stemming from cultural traditions play a significant role in
shaping the preferences for family structure. For example, investigating the fertility of
women born in the US, but from different ethnic backgrounds, Fernández and Fogli (2006)
find that the total fertility rate in the woman’s country of ancestry and the woman’s number
of siblings are both significant determinants of fertility. Fernández (2007) shows that both
female labor participation and attitudes in a woman’s country of ancestry have significant
effects on second-generation American women’s work outcomes.
Living arrangement is also critically related to family structure and varies across
societies and cultures. Results from Manacorda and Moretti (2006) indicate that parents’
taste for co-residence is an important contributing factor for the remarkably high rate of
young Italian men living with their parents and co-habitation is a normal good for Italian
parents. Giuliano (2007) explains that differences in living arrangements in Northern and
Southern Europe and the dramatic increase in the fraction of young adults living with their
parents in Mediterranean Europe are caused by closer parent–child ties in Southern Europe.
Studying the economic influences of the late transition into adulthood for Italians when
leaving their parental home at a much later age, Billari and Tabellini (2008) argue that
individuals who leave the parental home earlier in life earn a higher income in their mid-
30s.
Alesina and Giuliano (2007) present that along with strong family ties, home production
is higher, while the labor force participation of women and youngsters and geographical
mobility are lower. Their results suggest that strong family ties imply a greater reliance on
the family as an economic unit and less dependence on the market as well as the gov-
ernment for providing goods and services and social insurance. Alesina and Giuliano
(2009) further indicate that the more individuals rely on the family as a provider of
services, insurance, and transfer of resources, the lower civic engagement and political
participation will be for a society.
Some interesting results from empirical studies on the relationship between family
structure and marital satisfaction have also emerged. For example, Amato and Booth
(1995) present that when wives adopt less traditional gender role attitudes, their perceived

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marital quality declines. By contrast, when husbands adopt less traditional attitudes, their
perceived marital quality increases. Kalmijn et al. (2004) and Van den Troost et al. (2006)
demonstrate that both economic and cultural factors are important in understanding marital
satisfaction. They argue that the chances for divorce increase if women adhere to eman-
cipatory norms independent of their labor market positions, but husbands’ familialism
moderates the effect of women’s employment on women’s marital satisfaction.

3 Social Changes and the Role of Family in East Asia Societies

The social changes accompanying industrialization and economic development often lead
to adjustments in family structure and relationships among family members. In particular,
the changes in family structure require adjustments in attitudes toward gender roles and
interactions among family members. These adjustments potentially impact the decisions of
living arrangement and the outcomes of marital life for married couples. Several arguments
attempting to explain these changes in family structure include the classic modernization
theory (Goode 1963; Thornton and Fricke 1987), ideology theory (Thornton and Lin 1994;
Whyte 2003), and practicality theory (Chamratrithirong et al. 1988; Logan and Bian 1999).
Among these studies, Lee et al. (1994) show that the vast majority of married children in
Taiwan provide net financial support for their parents, and the altruistic model explains the
intergenerational transfers during the period of rapid economic growth. Adversely, Lee
(2004) argues in modernized Hong Kong that the traditional role of the family and chil-
dren’s duty of caring for their aged parents may be weakening, suggesting that the tra-
ditional Confucian filial piety is undergoing modification, which implies ongoing changes
in intergenerational relations in this modernized Asian society.
Investigating the changing Asian family, Croll (2006) argues that in Asian societies, it is
the familial contract and family exclusion, rather than the social contract and social
exclusion, that are more pertinent to an individual’s well-being, and that intergenerational
resource flows significantly subsidize contemporary Asian development strategies. Fran-
kenberg et al. (2002) examine stability and change in the co-residence of older adults and
their children in Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Their results suggest that there is a
strong relationship between work status and the likelihood of co-residence for older adults
and their children, while the interests of the younger generation rather than those of the
older generation are often the primary motivation behind co-residence.
Unlike Western societies, East Asia countries such as Taiwan have inherited the cultural
traditions of Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist beliefs with strong emphases on collectivism,
familial interests, and filial piety (e.g., Lee et al. 1994; Tsai and Yi 1997; Hwang 1999; Lee
2004; Croll 2006). Family members in Taiwan are usually considered as one body, and the
value of filial piety supporting the benevolent and affective consideration and care for
parents is still mostly sustained (Chu 1997; Yeh 1997; and Hwang 1999). Notwithstanding
this, Taiwan has experienced numerous social and economic changes during the course of
its transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy over the past decades.
Consequently, these social and economic changes have brought along modifications in
family structure as it is an important economic unit that organizes many aspects of the
production, consumption, and interactions among family members (e.g. Ho 1994, 1996;
Thornton and Lin 1994; Hwang 1999).
It is useful to now briefly discuss some changes of family structure and attitudes toward
traditional family values in Taiwan over the past years. For example, as shown in
Appendix 1, while the percentage of married females living with parents only slightly

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 219

increased from 2.14% in 1998, to respectively 3 and 2.99% in 2002 and 2006, the per-
centage of married males living with parents substantially increased from 32.87% in 1998,
to respectively 35.36 and 36.85% in 2002 and in 2006. At the same time, the average
number of persons in a household continuously decreased from 3.91 in 1998 to 3.87 in
2002 and to 3.81 in 2006. This probably results from the fact that the average couple had
2.15 children in 1998, but the number declined to 2.10 in 2002, and continued to decrease
significantly to 1.92 in 2006.
As for the concept of family values and family ties, due to the limitation of information
available for making comparisons, we only briefly describe the changes over the years in
the attitudes toward giving up one’s personal goals to meet the wishes of parents and
having at least one son to maintain the family’s bloodline. The percentage of people who
agree that giving up one’s personal goals to meet the wishes of parents decreased from
60.9% in 1999 to 28.1% in 2001, and then increased to 39.5% in 2006. The percentage of
people who agree with the statement that in order to maintain a family’s bloodline, one
needs to have at least one son decreased from 68.2% in 1999 to 43.5% in 2001, and
increased slightly to 44.7% in 2006. More importantly, the belief on the importance of
family in an individual’s life remained very strong as the percentage of people who agree
that the happiness of family should be a priority over one’s own interests was 83.1% in
2006. It appears that the concept of family values and family ties experienced a more
drastic change during the period from the late 1990s to early 2000s, the attitudes toward
family values have become more diversified, and the perception about the importance of
having a son has varied over the years. However, the traditional values of a patrilineal
family emphasizing obligation to one’s family and the collective interest of the family still
remain very strong in Taiwan.
The changes of family structure in Taiwan also can be observed by the employment
statuses of the husbands and wives in the households. In 1998 the percentage of households
with both husband and wife employed was 41.54%, increasing to 44.17 and 46.84% in
2002 and 2006, respectively. This is probably due to the increase in female individuals’
labor force participation rate over the past few decades. As shown in Fig. 1, female
individuals’ labor force participation rate was only 39.13%, rising to 49.89% in 2010. By
contrast, for male individuals, the labor force participation rate has decreased from 77.96%
in 1978 to 66.51% in 2010. As a result, the economic burden of a household has become a
shared responsibility by the husband and wife as women increase their participation in the
labor market. Of course, these modifications can also lead to changes in the decisions of
intergenerational living arrangement and the interactions between parents and their married
children. Therefore, such changes may consequently impact marital satisfaction for men
and women.
In sum, the adjustments in intergenerational relationships caused by changes in family
structure arising from economic and social developments are likely to have different
impacts on the marital satisfactions perceived by men and women across cultures and
societies. This paper endeavors to make a contribution to the literature from the cultural
aspect in explaining economic outcomes by focusing upon the role of family ties in shaping
the preferences for living arrangement and intergenerational resource transfers as well as
their effects on marital satisfaction in an East Asia country. There are three parts in this
paper to this empirical task. First, we will investigate the potential determinants of strong
family ties by focusing on the effects of traditional social and cultural values. In particular,
if cultural factors are important for explaining the preferences for family and intergener-
ational relationship in Taiwan, then religious affiliation will be significantly associated
with the strength of family ties. Second, we further examine whether the strength of family

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220 W.-C. Chang

%
90
Male Female
80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008
year

Fig. 1 Labor force participation rate for male and female individuals in Taiwan 1978–2010

ties has strong influences on the decisions of intergenerational living arrangement and
resource transfers for married individuals. When the strength of family ties plays an
important role in the economic decisions and interactions among family members, we
expect that such stronger family ties imply a greater role for the family as an economic unit
for providing goods and services and lead to a higher possibility of living with parents for
married individuals and also a higher possibility of intergenerational resource transfers.
Finally, this paper will investigate whether the intergenerational living arrangement and
resource transfers stemming from the strength of family ties have significant effects on the
level of marital satisfaction for married individuals. As decisions in the family affect the
well-being of family members, we also expect that intergenerational living arrangement or
resource transfers have impacts on the level of marital satisfaction for married individuals.

4 Data and Empirical Strategy

This study uses data from Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) in 2006 to investigate the
importance of cultural factors in explaining the relationship between family ties, living
arrangement, intergenerational transfer, and marital satisfaction. Since 1984, TSCS has
been conducted annually with different main topics by the Institute of Sociology at Aca-
demia Sinica. The topic on family was surveyed in 2006 with a nationwide sample of 2,102
respondents aged 18 years old and over. This study uses the samples of 1,269 married
individuals from the 2006 wave of this survey, because it contains information about
respondents’ beliefs about family values and traditional filial piety, family structure, living
arrangement, and marital satisfaction along with other basic demographic characteristics
such as age, gender, educational background, income level, and so on.
An index measuring the strength of family ties (SFT) is constructed according to the
respondents’ answers (from strongly agree to strongly disagree) to 8 statements regarding
their beliefs on the importance of family in an individual’s life, filial piety, the duties and

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 221

responsibilities of a person to the family, and love and respect for parents. These state-
ments include: (1) One should appreciate his parents for raising him up. (2) No matter how
badly your parents have treated you, you should be good to your parents. (3) Giving up
your personal goals to accomplish the wishes of your parents. (4) Providing support for
your parents to make their life-living more comfortable. (5) Children should do things to
make their parents proud. (6) To maintain your family’s bloodline, you need to at least
have one son. (7) No matter what, a father’s authority should be respected in the family. (8)
The happiness of the family should be a priority over one’s own interests. The value of this
index, SFT, is scaled from 0 (weakest) to 48 (strongest) with a mean value of 37 for
married individuals.
There are six variables related to living arrangement and intergenerational transfers used
in this study: whether the respondent co-resides with his or her father (if co-residing with
father, CRF = 1), whether the respondent co-resides with his or her mother (if co-residing
with mother, CRM = 1), whether the respondent co-resides with his or her father-in-law (if
co-residing with spouse’s father, CRFS = 1), whether the respondent co-resides with his or
her mother-in-law (if co-residing with spouse’s mother, CRMS = 1), the frequency of
assistance provided by the respondent to his or her parents (Help-p), and the frequency of
assistance received by the respondent from his or her parents (Help-c). The measure of
marital satisfaction (MSatisfaction) is also constructed by the respondents’ answers to the
following question.
Taking all things together, would you say that you are satisfied or dissatisfied with your
marital life?
The response is scaled from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 4 (very satisfied).
The demographic characteristics of the respondents included in the estimation as control
variables are age (Age), age square (Age2), gender (Gender), educational level (High,
College, and Graduate), employment status (Employed, Part-time, Job-Family, and
Housewife), personal income level (YD1, YD2, YD3, and YD4), family income level
(FYD1, FYD2, FYD3, and FYD4), religious affiliation (Buddha (Buddhist), Tao (Taoist),
Folk (Folk religionist), Catholic, and Protestant), self-reported level of health (Health),
frequency of doing housework (Housework), number of children (Children), and the
duration of marriage in years (Myear).
To examine the relationship between strong family ties and several cultural and
socioeconomic factors, the empirical model is constructed as follows:
SFTi ¼ b1 þ b2 Xi þ ei ; ð1Þ
where variable SFTi measures strength of family ties, Xi is a set of cultural and socio-
economic variables including demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational
attainment, employment status, income level, and religious affiliation, and ei is the error
term.
After investigating the relationship between strong family ties and cultural and socio-
economic factors, this study continues on to examine the link between living arrangement,
intergenerational transfer, and marital satisfaction for the married individuals by estimating
the following two-step empirical model:
Livingi ðor Transferi Þ ¼ b1 þ b2 SFTi þ b3 Vi þ gi ; ð2Þ
MSatisfactioni ¼ c1 þ c2 Livingi þ c3 Transferi þ c4 Zi þ /i ; ð3Þ
where Livingi and Transferi are the respective variables of living arrangement (CRF, CRM,
CRFS, and CRMS) and intergenerational transfer (Help-p and Help-c), MSatisfactioni is the

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measurement for marital satisfaction, Vi and Zi are the sets of socioeconomic character-
istics, and gi and /i are the error terms.
Since living arrangement and intergenerational transfer are potentially affected by the
strength of strong family ties, we first estimate Eq. 2 to understand the role of strong family
ties in explaining living arrangement and intergenerational transfer. With the results from
estimating Eq. 2, we then use the predicted values of the variables of living arrangement
and intergenerational transfer as explanatory variables to estimate marital satisfaction in
Eq. 3. By doing so, the effect of strong family ties on marital satisfaction is captured
through living arrangement and intergenerational transfer. Appendix 2 reports the defini-
tions of variables used in this study’s estimations, and Appendix 3 shows the descriptive
statistics of these variables.

5 Results

According to the empirical framework described in Eq. 1, we first estimate the determi-
nants of strong family ties. Shown in Table 1, religious affiliations of Buddhism, Taoism,
and folk religions have significant positive effects on strong family ties for all married
individuals and married males, while higher educational attainments appear to reduce the
strength of strong family ties. As is expected, this result indicates that strong family ties
stemming from some traditional socio-cultural factors such as religion and education can
potentially enhance the emphasis on individualism and personal achievement out of the
family’s collective interests. In addition, with the estimated result that the coefficient of
age is negatively significant and the coefficient of age squared is positively significant, age
has a U-shaped relationship with the strength of family ties for married females. This
implies that middle-age married women tend to have a weaker strength of family ties than
younger and older married women who seem to have stronger beliefs on the importance of
family in an individual life.
Comparing columns 2 and 3 of Table 1, it can be seen that religious affiliations are
significantly related to the strength of family ties for married males, but not for married
females. This may suggest that under the family structure of a traditional patrilineal society
in Taiwan, the effects of socio-cultural factors on the formation of family ties are built and
preserved along the father-and-son relationship (e.g. Weinstein et al. 1990; Lee and Sun
1995; Goodkind 1996; Floyd 2003).
Table 2 presents the results from the estimations of Eq. 2 for examining the role of
strong family ties in explaining individuals’ decisions on whether to live with the father
(spouse’s father) or mother (spouse’s mother) and intergenerational resource transfers. It is
found that married individuals with stronger family ties are more likely to live with their
fathers, but strong family ties have no significant relationship with the possibility of living
with one’s mother, or spouse’s father or mother. Again, the formation of family ties seems
to be built and preserved along the male side and the effect of strong family ties on living
arrangement is only significant for the decision as to whether an individual lives with his or
her own father. This is also consistent with the results that married males are less likely to
live with their spouses’ fathers or mothers than married females. In addition, married
individuals with a high school or college education are less likely to live with their fathers
and mothers than married individuals without a high school education. This implies that
married individuals with a higher level of educational attainment have a greater tendency
to live apart from their fathers due to self-determination and independence.

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 223

Table 1 Determinants of strong family ties

Variable Married individuals Married males Married females

Constant 38.2174*** (1.9724) 37.6659*** (2.8247) 41.7969*** (2.9353)

Age -0.1328* (0.0766) -0.1020 (0.1048) -0.2626** (0.1193)
Age2 0.0020*** (0.0007) 0.0017* (0.0010) 0.0033*** (0.0012)
Gender 1.0237*** (0.3203)
High -1.4855*** (0.3971) -0.7253 (0.5378) -2.2010*** (0.6010)
College -2.6260*** (0.4432) -1.8951*** (0.5977) -3.2960*** (0.6825)
Graduate -3.8156*** (0.9569) -3.9056*** (1.2824) -3.0656** (1.4647)
Employed 0.4564 (0.4031) 0.9646 (0.6140) -0.0216 (0.5446)
Part-time -0.5431 (0.9698) -1.1455 (2.2015) -0.3306 (1.0987)
Job-family 0.3194 (0.5960) -0.4803 (0.9715) 1.0046 (0.7599)
YD1 -0.8099* (0.4573) -0.9581* (0.5618) -0.8183 (0.8025)
YD2 -0.1701 (1.0294) -0.6158 (1.1468) 0.9841 (2.4333)
YD3 3.0690 (2.0112) 3.3166 (2.3797) 2.2795 (3.8378)
YD4 1.1533 (1.6909) 0.3629 (2.0146) 2.3003 (3.10260
Buddha 1.1904*** (0.4648) 1.3633** (0.6526) 0.9536 (0.6673)
Tao 0.8920* (0.5111) 1.4419** (0.7005) 0.3105 (0.7549)
Folk 1.0153** (0.4321) 1.2153** (0.6010) 0.8312 (0.6293)
Catholic 0.1802 (1.7896) -1.3517 (2.6654) 1.7031 (2.4366)
Protestant -0.2252 (0.8374) 0.1192 (1.2170) -0.2982 (1.1728)
R2 0.1388 0.1183 0.1626
N 1,269 649 620
Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
***, **, and * Significance at 1, 5, and 10% levels, respectively

More important and as expected as shown in Table 2, the coefficient of strong family
ties (SFT) is positively significant for both the estimations of Help-p and Help-c. This
indicates that strong family ties are positively associated with the frequencies of assis-
tances provided by an individual to his or her parents and the assistances received by an
individual from his or her parents. This simply confirms that stronger family ties lead to a
higher level of intergenerational transfer. Overall, the results in Table 2 suggest that with
stronger family ties, intergenerational co-residence and resource transfer are more likely to
occur, because the family plays a more important role as an economic unit for producing
incomes and goods and services for individuals.
According to Eq. 3, Table 3 presents the results from examining the relationship
between living arrangement and intergenerational transfer and marital satisfaction for all
married individuals, married males, and married females, respectively. The first column
shows the result from the regression of the level of marital satisfaction (MSatisfaction) on
the predicted values of the variables of living arrangement (CRF, CRM, CRFS, and CRMS)
and intergenerational transfer (Help-p and Help-c) along with other demographic charac-
teristics with the sample of all married individuals. It is found that one’s health condition is
positively associated with marital satisfaction, and the level of monthly family income has
a significantly positive effect on marital satisfaction when it reaches NT$200,000
(approximately US$6,135, based on the exchange rate US$ 1 = NT$32.6 in 2006). Having
better health apparently leads to a higher level of marital satisfaction, and when family

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224 W.-C. Chang

Table 2 Living arrangement, intergenerational transfer, and strong family ties

Variable CRF CRM CRFS CRMS Help-p Help-c

Constant -1.0527 -0.4581 0.6447 -0.6328 6.3660*** 9.6289***

(0.7905) (0.7416) (0.7571) (0.6410) (1.1751) (0.8417)
Age -0.0206 -0.0372 -0.0531* -0.0213 -0.0973** -0.2976***
(0.0323) (0.0283) (0.0302) (0.0229) (0.0397) (0.0285)
Age2 0.0008** 0.0009*** 0.0012*** 0.0006*** -0.0003 0.0019***
(0.0004) (0.0003) (0.0003) (0.0002) (0.0004) (0.0003)
Gender 0.5361*** 0.8426*** -0.9480*** -0.7651*** 0.0949 0.1654
(0.0620) (0.0901) (0.0951) (0.0904) (0.1682) (0.1205)
Children -0.0802* -0.0660 0.0617 0.1610*** 0.0223 0.0007
(0.0474) (0.0446) (0.0468) (0.0420) (0.0728) (0.0522)
High -0.2259** -0.2917*** -0.0085 -0.0900 1.3003*** 0.5899***
(0.1138) (0.1082) (0.1121) (0.1039) (0.2094) (0.1500)
College -0.5671*** -0.4799*** -0.1820 -0.3097*** 1.7830*** 0.8642***
(0.1282) (0.1248) (0.1259) (0.1189) (0.2388) (0.1710)
Graduate -0.2027 -0.5392*** -0.3021 -0.2716 1.0362** 0.9417***
(0.2479) (0.2538) (0.2483) (0.2559) (0.5039) (0.3609)
Employed 0.0552 0.0258 0.1771 -0.1925* 0.2419 0.2242
(0.1164) (0.1124) (0.1144) (0.1046) (0.2102) (0.1506)
Part-time -0.0940 0.0154 -0.5498** -0.4778* -0.0648 0.4983
(0.2519) (0.2611) (0.2471) (0.2477) (0.5061) (0.3625)
Job-family -0.1729 -0.0355 0.4064** 0.0027 0.2081 0.3291
(0.1684) (0.1640) (0.1767) (0.1576) (0.3105) (0.2224)
YD1 -0.1538 -0.2604** -0.0985 0.0278 0.3090 0.0574
(0.1199) (0.1205) (0.1183) (0.1206) (0.2389) (0.1711)
YD2 -0.0527 -0.4795* 0.0912 -0.1127 1.2180** -0.0899
(0.2862) (0.2524) (0.2716) (0.2714) (0.5365) (0.3843)
YD3 0.3448 -0.1342 -0.8179 -0.8063 2.7320*** 0.2419
(0.5416) (0.5256) (0.5474) (0.6444) (1.0498) (0.7520)
YD4 -0.0904 -0.3902 -0.1303 -7.2863 -1.7590** -1.9013***
(0.4201) (0.4542) (0.4412) (169264) (0.8836) (0.6329)
SFT 0.0205** 0.0024 -0.0044 0.0117 0.0458*** 0.0360***
(0.0080) (0.0079) (0.0081) (0.0077) (0.0148) (0.0106)
R2 0.3983 0.3963
L-likelihood -590.9323 -629.0882 -601.0080 -661.6890
N 1,269 1,269 1,269 1,269 1,269 1,269

Estimates are results from OLS or probit regressions. Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
***, **, and * Significance at 1, 5, and 10% levels, respectively

income reaches a relatively abundant level, it allows the family to satisfy more of the
family members’ needs and can also raise the level of marital satisfaction. Surprisingly,
among the variables of living arrangement and intergenerational transfer, only the variable
of co-residence with father (CRF) has a significantly positive relationship with the level of
marital satisfaction.

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 225

Table 3 Living arrangement, intergenerational transfer, and marital satisfaction dependent vari-
able = marital satisfaction (MSatisfaction)
Variable Married individuals Married males Married females

Constant -1.3327 (2.2459) 5.1673 (3.3315) -3.4644 (4.3237)

Age 0.0748 (0.0799) -0.1489 (0.1182) 0.1802 (0.1467)
Age2 -0.0004 (0.0006) 0.0010 (0.0009) -0.0010 (0.0012)
Gender 0.0304 (0.2009)
High -0.1993 (0.1771) 0.2442 (0.2491) -0.4071 (0.3799)
College -0.2674 (0.2818) 0.3736 (0.4145) -0.5351 (0.5791)
Graduate -0.6206* (0.3321) 0.0718 (0.5105) -1.1427** (0.5174)
Employed -0.3214** (0.1450) 0.2102 (0.2462) -0.4758* (0.2471)
Part-time -0.2593 (0.3153) 0.8627 (0.6161) -0.8860* (0.4951)
Job-family -0.2489 (0.1693) 0.2116 (0.3174) -0.1709 (0.3313)
FYD1 0.0573 (0.0779) 0.0450 (0.1097) 0.0973 (0.1135)
FYD2 0.1360 (0.1120) -0.0192 (0.1531) 0.2680 (0.1742)
FYD3 0.1121 (0.1628) -0.2169 (0.2414) 0.4238* (0.2342)
FYD4 0.5915*** (0.2100) 0.1283 (0.2928) 0.9835*** (0.3131)
Health 0.1801*** (0.0317) 0.2270*** (0.0450) 0.1272*** (0.0454)
Housework 0.0030 (0.0071) 0.0075 (0.0085) 0.0021 (0.0138)
Children 0.0617 (0.0463) -0.0007 (0.0745) 0.0589 (0.0756)
Myear 0.0007 (0.0059) 0.0075 (0.0073) -0.0117 (0.0111)
CRF 1.6454* (0.9109) 2.6673* (1.5572) 2.0394 (1.4915)
CRM -1.1258 (0.9054) -1.1920 (1.7560) -1.4412 (1.6750)
CRFS 0.2964 (0.6307) -1.2471 (1.3898) -1.3930 (1.7813)
CRMS -1.3181 (0.9751) 1.1792 (1.7909) -1.1699 (1.5500)
Help-p -0.0451 (0.1712) 0.1262 (0.2393) -0.0646 (0.3318)
Help-c 0.3764 (0.2922) -0.4491 (0.4519) 0.6445 (0.5143)
l1 0.5896*** (0.0519) 0.3791*** (0.0743) 0.7929*** (0.0722)
l2 1.2960*** (0.0431) 1.1609*** (0.0631) 1.4636*** (0.0605)
l3 2.9465*** (0.0500) 2.8147*** (0.0713) 3.1517*** (0.0722)
L-likelihood -1,367.654 -627.3559 -677.2854
Pseudo R2 0.0295 0.0335 0.0369
N 1,269 649 620
Estimates are results from ordered probit regressions. Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
***, **, and * Significance at 1, 5, and 10% levels, respectively

Comparing columns 2 and 3 in Table 3, it is found that the variable of co-residence with
father (CRF) remains positively related to marital satisfaction with the sample of married
males, but becomes statistically insignificant in explaining the level of marital satisfaction
with the sample married females. By contrast, the coefficient of co-residence with mother
(CRM) is negative but statistically insignificant to explain the level of marital satisfaction.
These results indicate that the impact from living arrangement affected by the strength of
family ties on marital satisfaction mostly takes place in the father-and-son relationship in
Taiwan. The presence of a father in the household is beneficial to the married son’s marital
satisfaction when a father can provide various types of support for his married son in the
household. The variables of intergenerational transfer (Help-p and Help-c) are also not

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226 W.-C. Chang

significant for explaining the level of marital satisfaction for married females, whereas full-
time or part-time employment tends to have a negative impact on the level of marital
satisfaction for married females. This is probably caused by the fact that married women
suffer more from both the responsibilities in the labor market and that of the family.
Intergenerational interactions under the structure of a patrilineal family again appear to
have different influences on marital satisfaction for men and women. A potential expla-
nation is that the ideals of a husband and wife in terms of intergenerational relationship
stemming from social norms are perceived to be substantially different between the two
sexes in Taiwan. The ideal of a wife has traditionally been perceived by society to have the
most responsibilities of housework and in taking care of young children and elderly parents
in the family. When a married woman tries to fulfill the role and responsibilities of a wife,
she could suffer conflicts between the family and her own career achievement in the labor
market. As discussed previously, the female labor participation rate and the percentage of
households with both husband and wife employed have increased substantially in recent
decades in Taiwan. It is well expected that married women have been facing difficult
challenges in fulfilling their responsibilities in the family and achieving their career goals
in the labor market.
To further investigate what the potential effects of living arrangement and intergener-
ational transfer are on marital satisfaction for young couples who might face many con-
flicts between the responsibilities to their family and that toward their career in the labor
market, we conduct estimations with sub-samples aged from 24 years old to 45 years old
for married individuals, married males, and married female, respectively. Table 4 presents
the results and several important findings from the estimations.
As shown in the first column of Table 4, for married individuals aged 24–45, the result
is quite similar to what is found with the sample of all married individuals as described in
Table 2, but the positive effect of co-residence with father (CRF) on the level of marital
satisfaction for married individuals aged 24–45 is much stronger than it is for all married
individuals. The coefficient of CRF is 5.8577 for married individuals aged 24–45, but it is
only 1.6454 for all married individuals. In the second column of Table 4, CRF remains
positively significant for the sample of married males aged 24–45 with the coefficient of
6.5132, implying that the effect of co-residence with the husband’s father on marital
satisfaction is very important for young married couples. Perhaps under the structure of a
traditional patrilineal family the father-and-son interactions in the setting of intergenera-
tional co-residence are beneficial to young married couples.
With the sample of married females aged 24–45 in the third column of Table 4, monthly
family income appears to have a positively significant relationship with the level of marital
satisfaction when it reaches NT$100,000. Again, CRF is also positively associated with the
level of marital satisfaction. A possible explanation is that as the number of dual-income
married couples continues to increase in Taiwan, many married women work in the labor
market and earn the economic power-base in the household. The issue of sharing the
responsibilities of economic burden and housework could lead to more potential conflicts
for married couples.
The presence of the husband’s father in the household can provide various support and
beneficial effects not only for the married son, but also for the working wife. In particular,
when the married couples are between 24 and 45 years old, they probably confront more
challenges from working in the labor market and raising young children in the household.
It is also possible that the married son can take more useful advice from his father when
dealing with the issues of interacting with his working wife since the father-and-son
relationship is usually more well-established under the patrilineal family structure.

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 227

Table 4 Living arrangement, intergenerational transfer, and marital satisfaction for young couples (ages
24–45) dependent variable = marital satisfaction (MSatisfaction)
Variable Married individuals Married males Married females

Constant -2.9600 (5.0407) 11.9748 (8.6136) -10.0886 (13.4268)

Age 0.1977 (0.1923) -0.4175 (0.3405) 0.5143 (0.4657)
Age2 -0.0031 (0.0022) 0.0023 (0.0037) -0.0063* (0.0033)
Gender -0.5608 (0.8618)
High 0.3120 (0.4155) 0.9485 (0.6949) 0.0448 (1.0970)
College 0.8126 (0.7034) 1.8906 (1.1838) 0.3976 (2.0055)
Graduate -0.4914 (0.8361) 0.7677 (1.4781) -0.9203 (2.4530)
Employed -0.7013 (0.4019) 0.0972 (0.7248) -0.8326 (1.0497)
Part-time -0.6066 (0.7778) 0.8165 (1.6699) -0.8789 (2.0806)
Job-family -0.3569 (0.5008) 0.3582 (0.8743) -0.3564 (1.1204)
FYD1 0.1215 (0.1243) 0.0719 (0.1954) 0.1234 (0.1706)
FYD2 0.4399** (0.1822) 0.3916 (0.2918) 0.4022* (0.2428)
FYD3 0.2335 (0.2561) -0.3086 (0.4324) 0.6161* (0.3449)
FYD4 0.5628* (0.3361) -0.2106 (0.5474) 0.9121* (0.4723)
Health 0.2012*** (0.0538) 0.2774*** (0.0821) 0.1351* (0.0737)
Housework 0.0137 (0.0129) 0.0176 (0.0158) 0.0148 (0.0246)
Children 0.2052 (0.1290) 0.0235 (0.2211) 0.1574 (0.3746)
Myear 0.0021 (0.0140) 0.0210 (0.0209) -0.0171 (0.0198)
CRF 5.8577*** (1.7558) 6.5132** (2.5010) 5.5990* (3.3065)
CRM -2.2814 (2.3730) -1.3038 (3.4332) -2.9885 (7.1687)
CRFS 1.5031 (2.5936) -1.5381 (3.9931) 1.1977 (5.0182)
CRMS -3.4665 (2.6949) 2.9876 (6.4973) -3.0114 (7.9083)
Help-p -0.2155 (0.3284) 0.2261 (0.4835) -0.3005 (0.8723)
Help-c 0.2867 (0.6271) -1.2502 (1.1202) 0.7851 (2.0291)
l1 0.5243*** (0.0787) 0.2397** (0.1103) 0.7505*** (0.1060)
l2 1.1388*** (0.0685) 1.0224*** (0.1074) 1.2908*** (0.0919)
l3 2.9612*** (0.0799) 2.7931*** (0.1233) 3.2148*** (0.1099)
L-likelihood -579.1699 -248.4788 -318.4811
Pseudo R2 0.0451 0.0667 0.0504
N 579 255 324
Estimates are results from ordered probit regressions. Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
***, **, and * Significance at 1, 5, and 10% levels, respectively

6 Conclusion

Using data from the 2004 Taiwan Social Change Survey, this study has examined the
determinants of strong family ties and the effects of living arrangement and intergenera-
tional transfer on marital satisfaction for an East Asia country where its cultural traditions
emphasize the importance of family and the concept of filial piety. Contributing to the
literature of cultural explanations for numerous economic outcomes, several important
results from this study can be summarized as below.
First, this study shows that age, educational attainment, and religious affiliations are
important factors for explaining the strength of family in the East Asia country of Taiwan.

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228 W.-C. Chang

Similar to Western societies, religion as an important part of culture is positively associ-

ated with the strength of family ties, with this connection significant for married males, but
not for married females. Second, this study’s findings also suggest that for a society
experiencing a high level of economic and social changes, family ties still play an
important role in shaping the preferences of family structure and consequently have strong
effects on the well-being of family members. Strong family ties have significant rela-
tionships with the decisions of living arrangement and resource transfers between parents
and their married children. Third, intergenerational co-residence in the form of living with
one’s father has a significantly positive effect on the level of marital satisfaction for
married couples, and this effect is much stronger for married individuals aged 24–45. This
effect is mostly observed on the male side in terms of the father-and-son relationship. Such
results suggest that strong family ties stemming from socio-cultural factors do substantially
influence the decisions of living arrangement and resource transfer between parents and
their married children, but such influences appear mostly in the traditional form of a
patrilineal family structure. By contrast, the impact of family income on the level of
marital satisfaction is relatively more apparent for married women.
As an East Asia society strongly influenced by the Confucian cultural traditions of
viewing family as the main provider of economic and social support, the social and cultural
changes brought along by rapid economic and democratic developments have caused many
impacts on the family structure in Taiwan. These impacts have led to changes in economic
decisions such as living arrangement and resource transfers between parents and children.
Marital life usually involves much decision-making on the formation and functioning of
the family. Family ties stemming from a society’s cultural traditions play a significant role
in shaping the preferences for family structure and the decisions made by husbands and
wives in their marital lives.
Changes in family structure may also lead to different impacts on the level of marital
satisfaction as perceived by men and women under the tradition of a patrilineal family
structure and the concept of filial piety in Taiwan. As the levels of educational attainment
and labor participation rate for women have substantially increased, while the traditional
concept of patrilineal family remains prevalent, married women have been facing diffi-
culties in fulfilling their responsibilities both in the family and in the labor market. By
contrast, married men probably have to adjust their decisions and collaborations with their
wives upon the issues of living arrangement and housework burden-sharing so as to
maximize the well-being of family members. For married couples between their 20 and
40 s, raising young children and taking care of elderly parents require appropriate deci-
sions on the form and function of the family, which are compatible with the goals of
pursuing individual and family interests along with the undergoing economic and social
transformations in Taiwan.
From policy perspectives, the systems of social welfare and assistance, medical care for
young children and retired elderly, and regulations on the labor market may also need see
adjustments for the government to take over some functions that had been provided pre-
viously by the family. Along with the process of economic and social development in
Taiwan, there is also the problem of a rapidly aging population that requires implementing
more effective policies to sustain the system of intergenerational support exchange through
the family and the government. While familism, collectivism, and mutual benefits tradi-
tionally emphasized by Confucianism in an East Asia country still have strong important
influences in Taiwan, it remains a primary concern for married couples to make such
decisions based upon the issues of living arrangements and intergenerational resource
transfers in their martial lives.

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 229

Appendix 1

See Table 5.

Table 5 Changes of family structure and family concept in Taiwan

Family structure

Year 1998 2002 2006

Percentage of married males living with parents 32.87 35.36 36.85

Percentage of married females living with parents 2.14 3.00 2.99
Average number of persons in a household 3.91 3.87 3.81
Average number of children per couple 2.15 2.10 1.92
Percentage of households with both husband and wife employed 41.54 44.17 46.84

Concept of family values

Year 1999 2001 2006

Percentage of people who agree with Agree: 60.9 Agree: 28.1 Agree: 39.5
the statement that giving up your Disagree: 33.8 Disagree: 60.8 Disagree: 48.5
personal goals to accomplish the Neither: 4.2 Neither: 10.8 Neither: 12.1
wishes of your parents
Percentage of people who agree with Agree: 68.2 Agree: 43.5 Agree: 44.7
the statement that to maintain your Disagree: 27.8 Disagree: 46.1 Disagree: 35.5
family’s bloodline, you need to at Neither: 4.0 Neither: 10.3 Neither: 19.8
least have one son
Percentage of people who agree with N.A. N.A. 83.1
the statement that the happiness of
the family should be a priority over
one’s own interests

Source Taiwan Social Development Survey (TSDS) 1998, 2002, and 2006; Taiwan Social Change Survey
(TSCS) 1999, 2001 and 2006

Appendix 2

See Table 6.

Table 6 Definitions of variables

Variable Definition

Age Age of the respondent

Age2 Square of age of the respondent
Gender Gender of the respondent. If male, then Gender = 1; if female, then Gender = 0
Married If the respondent is married, then Married = 1; otherwise Married = 0. (baseline category:
single, divorced, or widowed)
High Educational level, if high school, High = 1; otherwise High = 0. (baseline category: below
high school)
College Educational level, if college, then College = 1; otherwise College = 0. (baseline category:
below high school)

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230 W.-C. Chang

Table 6 continued

Variable Definition

Graduate Educational level, if graduate school, then Graduate = 1; otherwise Graduate = 0.

(baseline category: below high school)
Employed Employment status, if the respondent is employed with a full-time paid job, then
employed = 1; otherwise employed = 0. (baseline category: unemployed or not in the
labor force)
Part-time Employment status, if the respondent is employed with a part-time paid job, then part-
time = 1; otherwise part-time = 0. (baseline category: unemployed or not in the labor
force)
Job-family Employment status, if the respondent works for his or her family-owned business, then Job-
family = 1; otherwise Job-family = 0. (baseline category: unemployed or not in the
labor force)
Student If the respondent is a student without a job, then Student = 1; otherwise Student = 0
Housewife If the respondent is a housewife without a job, then Housewife = 1; otherwise
Housewife = 0
Buddha Religious affiliation, if Buddhist, then Buddha = 1; otherwise Buddha = 0. (baseline
category: no religion or others)
Tao Religious affiliation, if Taoist, then Tao = 1; otherwise Tao = 0. (baseline category: no
religion or others)
Folk Religious affiliation, if Folk religionist, then Folk = 1; otherwise Folk = 0. (baseline
category: no religion or others)
Catholic Religious affiliation, if Catholic, then Catholic = 1; otherwise Catholic = 0. (baseline
category: no religion or others)
Protestant Religious affiliation, if Protestant, then Protestant = 1; otherwise Protestant = 0. (baseline
category: no religion or others)
YD1 NT$50,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$100,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
YD2 NT$100,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$150,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
YD3 NT$150,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$200,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
YD4 NT$200,000 Bmonthly family income. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
FYD1 NT$50,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$100,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
FYD2 NT$100,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$150,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
FYD3 NT$150,000 Bmonthly family income \NT$200,000. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
FYD4 NT$200,000 Bmonthly family income. (baseline category: \NT$50,000)
Children Number of children
Myear Number of years that the respondent has been married
CRF Dummy variable, if the respondent’s father co-resides with the respondent, then CRF = 1;
otherwise CRF = 0
CRM Dummy variable, if the respondent’s mother co-resides with the respondent, then
CRM = 1; otherwise CRM = 0
CRFS Dummy variable, if the respondent co-resides with his or her spouse’s father, then
CRFS = 1; otherwise CRFS = 0
CRMS Dummy variable, if the respondent co-resides with his or her spouse’s mother, then
CRMS = 1; otherwise CRMS = 0
Help-p An index measuring the frequency of assistance provided by the respondent to his or her
parents that is constructed with the responses to the question: ‘‘For the past year, how
frequently have you provided help to your parents in things such as (1) financial
assistance, (2) doing housework, and (3) listening to their thoughts?’’ From 0 (none at all)
to 12 (very frequently)

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Family Ties, Living Arrangement, and Marital Satisfaction 231

Table 6 continued

Variable Definition

Help-c An index measuring the frequency of assistance received by the respondent from his or her
parents that is constructed with the responses to the question: ‘‘For the past year, how
frequently have your parents provided help to you in things such as (1) financial
assistance, (2) doing housework, and (3) listening to your thoughts?’’ From 0 (none at all)
to 12 (very frequently)
Health A self-reported level of health, ranging from 0 (very bad) to 4 (very good)
Housework An index measuring the frequency of doing housework such as preparing meals, doing
laundry, and house cleaning, ranging from 18 (most frequently) to 0 (least frequently)
SFT Index of strong family ties (SFT), ranging from 0 (weakest) to 48 (strongest). This index is
constructed according to the responses to 8 statements regarding beliefs on the
importance of the family in an individual’s life, filial piety, the duties and responsibilities
of parents and children, and the love and respect for one’s own parents: (1) One should
appreciate his parents for raising him up. (2) No matter how badly your parents have
treated you, you should be good to your parents. (3) Giving up your personal goals to
accomplish the wishes of your parents. (4) Providing the support for your parents to make
their life-living more comfortable. (5) Children should do things to make their parents
proud. (6) To maintain your family’s bloodline, you need to at least have one son. (7) No
matter what, a father’s authority should be respected in the family. (8) The happiness of
the family should be a priority over one’s own interests
MSatisfaction Index of marital satisfaction, ranging from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 4 (very satisfied)

Appendix 3

See Table 7.

Table 7 Descriptive statics

Married individuals Married males Married females
N = 1,269 N = 649 N = 620

Variable Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Age 48.5885 13.6682 51.0632 14.0811 46.5452 12.8324

Age2 2,573.56 1,434.98 2,805.42 1,526.12 2,330.86 1,290.20
Gender 0.5114 0.5001
High 0.3065 0.4612 0.3097 0.4627 0.3032 0.4600
College 0.2506 0.4335 0.2589 0.4383 0.2419 0.4286
Graduate 0.0292 0.1683 0.0324 0.1771 0.0258 0.1587
Employed 0.5437 0.4983 0.6364 0.4814 0.4468 0.4976
Part-time 0.0260 0.1592 0.0092 0.0958 0.0435 0.2043
Job-family 0.0827 0.2756 0.0616 0.2407 0.1048 0.3066
Student 0.0008 0.0281 0.0015 0.0393 0.0000 0.0000
Housewife 0.1332 0.3399 0.2726 0.4456
Buddha 0.2411 0.4279 0.2280 0.4199 0.2548 0.4361
Tao 0.1615 0.3682 0.1710 0.3768 0.1516 0.3589
Folk 0.3656 0.4818 0.3744 0.4843 0.3565 0.4793
Catholic 0.0071 0.0839 0.0062 0.0783 0.0081 0.0895

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232 W.-C. Chang

Table 7 continued
Married individuals Married males Married females
N = 1,269 N = 649 N = 620

Variable Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Protestant 0.0378 0.1908 0.0339 0.1811 0.0419 0.2006

YD1 0.1608 0.3675 0.2234 0.4169 0.0952 0.2937
YD2 0.0229 0.1495 0.0370 0.1889 0.0081 0.08951
YD3 0.0055 0.0741 0.0077 0.0875 0.0032 0.0568
YD4 0.0079 0.0885 0.0108 0.1033 0.0048 0.0694
FYD1 0.3822 0.4861 0.3621 0.4810 0.4032 0.4909
FYD2 0.1268 0.3330 0.1433 0.3506 0.1097 0.3127
FYD3 0.0504 0.2189 0.0416 0.1998 0.0598 0.2371
FYD4 0.0331 0.1790 0.0354 0.1850 0.0306 0.1725
Children 2.5871 1.3768 2.6025 1.4128 2.5710 1.3390
Myear 24.6359 14.6955 24.8505 14.7917 24.4113 14.6207
CRF 0.6690 0.4707 0.7750 0.4179 0.5581 0.4970
CRM 0.5398 0.4986 0.6857 0.4646 0.3871 0.4875
CRFS 0.6619 0.4732 0.5686 0.4957 0.7597 0.4276
CRMS 0.5099 0.5001 0.4222 0.4943 0.6016 0.4900
Help-p 3.8014 3.5143 3.6764 3.7127 3.9323 3.2917
Help-c 2.0938 2.5130 2.0062 2.5832 2.1855 2.4362
Health 2.7801 1.0529 2.8382 1.0423 2.7194 1.0613
SFT 37.0047 5.6133 37.6302 5.4706 36.3500 5.6900
Housework 11.2419 6.1305 7.3036 5.4404 15.3435 3.6129
MSatisfaction 3.0229 0.8121 3.1032 0.7858 2.9387 0.8312

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