近年來少子化議題延燒，生不生小孩似乎是每個家庭需要認真思考的問題。何時生？生幾個小孩？這些決定都會影響父母的人生計畫。在台灣，家庭照顧的負擔大多落在女性身上，在女性就業比例越來越高的情況下，育兒負擔也降低女性生育的意願，為了鼓勵生育，政府也推出許多育兒津貼以及托育照顧等育兒政策。因此了解民眾對育兒政策的態度十分重要，許多研究指出，在民主社會中，民眾的支持度，往往是公共政策能否成功執行的主要關鍵。另外，個人、家庭特質等微觀因素皆可能影響大眾對育兒政策的支持度；文化與家庭型態、經濟結構等巨觀機制都可能形塑出不同的態度。如上所述，大眾對育兒政策的態度與許多微觀與巨觀因素相關，這樣的關係更必須在台灣民眾中尋找各種影響對育兒政策態度的因素，目前文獻中卻少有相關研究。因此，本研究使用「台灣社會變遷基本調查計畫2011第六期第二次：家庭組」資料，了解家庭中的結構與個人背景，如性別、婚姻、年齡、教育程度、小孩數量、健康狀況、收入、傳統價值、與父母同住、家庭支持…，以探討台灣民眾對育兒政策態度影響的因素，是否因個人不同價值觀和家庭背景下而有所差異。
Childbearing is a critical issue at the societal and individual level. Individually, childbearing is one of the most significant life transitions and yields enduring effects on one’s life trajectory. For a society, low fertility levels may lead to aging population and labor shortages.
The fertility rates have been declining over the past several decades in Taiwan. In order to increase fertility levels, the Taiwanese government has implemented family-friendly policies that facilitate the combination of family and work demands for two-earner families with minor children. At the same time, whether public programs are successful in increasing fertility levels depends on whether parents’ needs are met by these public provisions. Thus, it is essential to understand the public attitudes toward these public policies, or more specifically, family programs concerning parental leave and public childcare facilities.
Using data from the 2011 Taiwan Social Change Survey (Round 6 Time 2), this research aims to investigate Taiwanese attitudes toward the public childcare and parental leave programs and individual factors that affect their attitudes toward these schemes. The findings show that approximately 35-45 percent of Taiwanese people think that both individuals and the government are responsible for the cost of childrearing and the care of children. In addition, compared to single individuals, couples are more likely to report that both the government and family should support childbearing relative to the odds of attributing childcare responsibility to the family. Implications for policy making are also discussed.
