Abstract
This research project investigates how parental socioeconomic status (SES) is related to the ’adolescents’ fertility desire based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2012. We hypothesize that higher parental SES is associated with a lower fertility desire of the second generation in part due to higher expectations for children’s educational achievement. The results suggest that most Chinese adolescents prefer to have one or two children. Parental SES is associated with a lower fertility desire. The expectation for children's educational achievement is a significant mediator of this relationship but explains only a small proportion of the total effect. This suggests that parental SES primarily affects fertility desires through other channels, such as the transmission of norms and values.