Table Of ContentRoutledge Handbook
of Families in Asia
Research on the family has expanded considerably across Asia, but studies tend to be frag-
mented, focusing on narrow issues within limited areas (cities, towns, small communities) and
may not be accessible to international readers. These limitations make it difficult for researchers,
students, policy makers and practitioners to obtain the information they need. The Routledge
Handbook of Families in Asia fills that gap by providing a current and comprehensive analysis of
Asian families by a wide range of experts in a single publication.
The 31 chapters of this comparative and multidisciplinary volume are organized into nine
major themes: conceptual approaches, methodological issues, family life in the context of cul-
ture, family relationships across the family life cycle, issues of work and income, stress and
conflict, family diversity, family policy and laws, and the environmental setting of homes. Each
chapter examines family life across Asian countries, studying cultural similarities and differences
and exploring how families are changing and what trends are likely to develop in the future. To
provide a fruitful learning experience for the reader, each chapter offers examples, relevant data
and a comprehensive list of references.
Offering a complete interdisciplinary overview of families in Asia, the Handbook will be of
interest to students, academics, policy makers and practitioners across the disciplines of Asian
Studies, Sociology, Demography, Social Work, Law, Social Policy, Anthropology, Geography,
Public Health and Architecture.
Stella R. Quah is Adjunct Professor at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, National
University of Singapore.
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Routledge Handbook of
Families in Asia
Edited by Stella R. Quah
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 selection and editorial material, Stella R. Quah; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Stella R. Quah to be identified as author of the editorial material, and of
the individual authors as authors of their contributions, has been asserted by them in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Routledge handbook of families in Asia / edited by Stella R. Quah.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Families—Asia. I. Quah, Stella R., editor. II. Quah, Stella R. Families in Asia.
Container of (work):
HQ663.R68 2015
306.85095—dc23
2014032578
ISBN: 978-0-415-71546-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88170-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales and Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
Contributors ix
Preface xviii
PART 1
Introduction 1
1 Families in Asia: a kaleidoscope of continuity and change 3
Stella R. Quah
PART 2
Conceptualizing ‘family’ in the Asian context 23
2 Family theories in the Asian context 25
James M. White
3 Feminist, constructionist and other critical theories 40
Wing-Chung Ho
PART 3
Methodological issues in family research 57
4 Ascertaining family phenomena: measuring family behaviour 59
Shannon N. Davis
5 Challenges of longitudinal family studies in Asia 72
Peter Xenos
v
Contents
PART 4
Family life in the context of culture 91
6 Singlehood as a lifestyle in Asia 93
Trinidad S. Osteria
7 Dating and courtship 111
Stella R. Quah and Fumie Kumagai
8 Marriage practices and trends 123
Emiko Ochiai
9 Fertility trends in Asia: prospects and implications of very low fertility 138
Paul P.L. Cheung
10 Motherhood and childbirth practices in Asia 150
Eliana Naser
11 Fatherhood in Asian contexts 161
Masako Ishii-Kuntz
12 Early childhood socialization and well-being 175
Lucy P. Jordan and Elspeth F. Graham
13 Adolescents and transition to adulthood in Asia 191
Chin-Chun Yi
PART 5
Family relationships across the life cycle 211
14 Married couples and the marital relationship in Asia 213
Stella R. Quah
15 Parent–child and sibling relationships in contemporary Asia 230
Chau-kiu Cheung
16 Ageing and grandparenting in Asia 246
Ling Xu and Iris Chi
PART 6
Family, work and income 259
17 Working couples: the dual-income family 261
Leah Ruppanner
vi
Contents
18 Breadwinning, family and time over the life course 275
Susan A. McDaniel
19 Social class, poverty and family life: Asian perspectives 284
Irene Y.H. Ng
PART 7
Uncertainty, stress and conflict in the family 301
20 Preventing and managing conflict in the family 303
Yuk-Chung Chan
21 Spousal violence and in-law conflict in Asia: the case of China,
Taiwan and Hong Kong 318
Tuen-Yi Chiu and Susanne Y.P. Choi
22 Divorce trends and patterns in Asia 332
Gavin W. Jones
23 Remarriage and stepfamilies 345
Shinji Nozawa
24 Illness and caregiving in the family 359
Stella R. Quah
PART 8
Family diversity 375
25 Cohabitation in Asia 377
Karen M. Kobayashi and Ruth M. Kampen
26 Cohabitation: the case of Thailand 398
Aree Jampaklay and Aksarapak Lucktong
PART 9
Family policies and the law 409
27 Divorce, the family court and family lawyering 411
Debbie S.L. Ong
28 Legal protection of minors: experiences of four common law
jurisdictions in Asia 426
Wing-Cheong Chan
vii
Contents
29 Legal protection of aged parents and inheritance laws in Asia 442
Siyuan Chen
PART 10
Space and environmental settings of family life 459
30 Making a home: architectural features 461
Kyung Wook Seo
31 Working from home: redesigning internal space use in homes 486
Frances Holliss
Index 510
viii
Contributors
Wing-Cheong CHAN (MA, LLM) is associate professor at the Faculty of Law, National
University of Singapore, where he has been teaching since 1993. He teaches and researches
in family law and criminal law. His major works include: Support for Victims of Crime in Asia
(Routledge, 2008); Criminal Law in Malaysia and Singapore (with S. Yeo and N. Morgan)
(LexisNexis, 2007, 2012); Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code: The Legacies and
Modern Challenges of Criminal Law Reform (with B. Wright and S. Yeo) (Ashgate, 2011); and
Singapore’s Ageing Population: Managing Healthcare and End of Life Decisions (Routledge, 2011).
He also recently completed a chapter on ‘Family law’ in Reading Law in Singapore, 2nd edn
(M. Hor and H.W. Tang, eds) (LexisNexis, 2014).
Yuk-Chung CHAN (Ph.D.) is chair of the social work panel in the Department of Applied Social
Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He specializes in the fields of family violence
and its prevention. For the past two decades, he has conducted a number of research studies
on families and family services in Hong Kong and Macau. In 2011, he completed a study on
strategies to prevent family conflict in Macau for the Macau SAR government and another
study on parental perspectives of child neglect in Hong Kong for the Central Policy Unit of
the Hong Kong SAR government. In 2012, he completed a consultancy study on review of
family education services in Hong Kong for the Family Commission. The reports of the latter
two studies, namely Parental Perspectives on Child Neglect in Hong Kong (2011) and Study of Family
Education in Hong Kong (2012), are available online.
Siyuan CHEN (LLB, National University of Singapore; LLM, Harvard) is an assistant professor
of law with Singapore Management University. He teaches and researches in the areas of law
of evidence, civil procedure and family law and is also the founder and coordinator of the
university’s international moots programme. He has published in leading international journals
such as the International Journal of Evidence & Proof and Civil Justice Quarterly, and is the principal
author of the inaugural edition of International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Civil Procedure (Singapore)
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2014). Some of his writings have been referred to by various
courts, including the Singapore High Court and Singapore Court of Appeal.
Chau-kiu CHEUNG (Ph.D.) is an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong.
His research areas are life quality, social capital and socio-moral development. He has recently
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