RESEARCH OVERVIEW

My ongoing work centers on the idea that marriage and childbearing are often understood as a tightly linked “package deal,” particularly in South Korea and other East Asian societies. This package entails long-term economic and relational commitments that are widely perceived as prerequisites for building and sustaining a family—such as stable employment, secure and decent housing, and the capacity to meet intensive expectations surrounding childrearing and family life. Under such conditions, young adults’ bleak prospects for future economic stability can suppress not only fertility but also marriage intentions and broader investments in family formation. 

Methodologically, my research combines survey experimental data (including vignette-based designs) with conventional large-scale survey data to examine how individuals respond to economic uncertainty and cultural expectations. Substantively, while South Korea’s extraordinarily low fertility serves as a central empirical case, my work adopts a comparative perspective that spans East Asian societies and extends to broader cross-national and global contexts.