The dataset is a file of the raw interview scripts with my interviewees during the fieldwork conducted between 2021.6 to 2022.2.

This thesis investigates how urban middle-class working women with two children make sense of work, childcare, and self under the universal two-child policy of China. This thesis also explores how the idea of individual and family interact in these women's construction of a sense of self. On January 1st, 2016, the one-child policy was replaced by the universal two-child policy, under which all married couples in China are allowed to have two children. In the scholarships of motherhood, it is widely documented across cultures that it is a site of patriarchal oppression where women are expected to meet the unrealistic ideal of intensive mothering to be a good mother, suffer from the motherhood wage penalty and face more work-family conflict than fathers. Emprical studies of China also came to similar conclusions and such findings are not only widely regonized in scholarship but is also widespread in popular discourse in China. Despite that marriage and having children is still universal for the generation of the research target, women born in the 1970s and 1980s, due to compounding influence fo the one-child policy, increasing financial burden of raising a child etcs, having only one child has become widely acceptable and normal. Given this context, this study intend to investigate how these middle-class women, who are relatively empowered and resourceful, come to a decision that is seemingly against their own interest. Moreover, unlike in the west where the issue of childbearing and childcaring is mainly an issue of the conjugal couple and the gender realtions is at the center of the discussion, in China, extended family, especially grandparents also play a role in both the decision making process and the subsequent childcare arrangement. Therefore, to study the second-time mothers’ childcare and work experiences in contemporary urban China, we also need to situate them, as individuals, in their family. To investigate how they make sense of childcare and work is also to understand the tension between individual and family. By interviewing twenty-one parents from middle-class family in Guangzhou with a second child under six years old, this study finds that these urban working women with two children consider themselves as an individual unit and full-time paid employment is something that cannot be given up since it is the means of securing that independent self . However, they did not prioritize their personal interest to that of other family members, especially the elder child and thus the decision of having a second child is mainly for the sake of the elder child. Moreover, grandparents played an essential role to provide a childcare safety net, without which, these urban working women would not be able to work full-time and maintain the independent self as they defined it. The portrayal of these women’s experiences reflected the individualization process in China where people are indivdualized without individualism, and family are evoked as strategy to achieve personal as well as family goals. The findings of this study contributs to theories of motherhood by adding an intergenerational perspective to the existing gender perspective and also contributes to the studies of family by understanding the relation and interaction between individual and family in thse women’s construction of sense of self in the context of contemporary China.

Urban Parents’ Parenting Challenges Survey Data Dataset Name: Urban Parents’ Parenting Challenges Survey Data Abstract: This dataset contains survey data on the challenges faced by urban parents in China in raising children aged 2-6 years. The data aims to understand the primary challenges faced by parents, the demographic factors affecting these challenges, and the strategies parents typically use to seek support. Data Collection Method: The data was collected via an online survey conducted from July 2023 to December 2023. Data Structure: File Format: CSV Rows: Each row represents the response of a single participant. Columns: Includes variables such as respondent ID, grade, gender, birth order, parental ages, socioeconomic status (SES), and 16 parenting challenge scores. Variable Descriptions: id: Unique identifier for each respondent. Birth Order: 1 for first-born, 2 for not first-born. Child’s Gender: Gender of the child. Kindergarten Grade: 3 for lower grade, 4 for middle grade, 5 for upper grade. Grandparent Involvement: Indicates whether grandparents are involved in childcare, 1 for involved, 0 for not involved. Maternal Age, Paternal Age: 1 for

Current life situation and ways of life. Social relations and courses of life. Topics: 1. Children: number of siblings; sex of siblings; growing up with both parents or single-parent; divorce or other reasons for separation of parents; social origins; child-raising goals; number of children; desired number of children; living together with a partner; living separately; year of separation; right to support or personal payment obligations; regularity of payments deposited. 2. Partnership: steady partnership; judgement on living together with partner and quality of partnership (scale); division of decision-making authority in partnership. 3. Questions on social net: person to confide in; persons with whom one regularly has meals and to whom emotional relations exist; persons from whom one receives financial support or whom one supports; leisure partner; number of living grandparents. 4. School, training and employment: year and month of birth; year of school completion; time of first taking up occupational activity and complete information on professional career; current employment status; number of hours each week; temporary work; work orientation (scale); child-raising and employment; information on number of siblings, number of grandchildren, number of grandparents, employment, occupational position and number of hours each week of spouse; division of tasks in partnership; attitude to marriage (scale); estimated weekly effort for activities for family and household; attitude to children (scale); religious denomination; religiousness; postmaterialism; residential status; monthly rent or housing costs; floor space; number of rooms; number of children's rooms; information on infrastructure available in one's residential area and use of these facilities; presence and use of facilities for children in the immediate vicinity of one's residence; household income; income sources; possession of assets; right to support for children; regularity of payments; arrangement for child care; looking after persons in need of care in the household; self-assessment of condition of health; problems occurring in daily life in the family and occupation and perceived stress from this (scale); contraception; person using and deciding about contraception; marriage duration, number of relatives; household size; perceived family; occupational situation of man and woman. Additionally there are various indices in the dataset: family cycle; family form; forms of child-raising; marriage; children as burden, as benefit; postmaterialism; partnership after Featherman; infrastructure; distance to various relatives; income per person. Also encoded was: state and district code.

The Supervised Access Program provides separated and divorced families with a safe, neutral, child-focused meeting place. This is used for visits and exchanges between children and non-custodial parents or other adults, such as grandparents, where there are safety concerns. Contact is supervised by trained staff and volunteers.

Aktuelle Lebenssituation und Lebensformen. Soziale Beziehungen undLebensverläufe. Themen: 1. Kinder: Geschwisterzahl; Geschlecht der Geschwister;Aufwachsen bei beiden Elternteilen oder bei alleinerziehendenElternteilen; Scheidung oder andere Gründe für die Trennung der Eltern;soziale Herkunft; Erziehungsziele; Kinderzahl; gewünschte Kinderzahl;Zusammenleben mit einem Partner; getrenntlebend; Jahr der Trennung;Anspruch auf Unterhaltsgeld oder eigene Zahlungsverpflichtungen;Regelmäßigkeit der eingehenden Zahlungen. 2. Partnerschaft: Feste Partnerschaft; Beurteilung des Zusammenlebensmit dem Partner und der Qualität der Partnerschaft (Skala); Aufteilungder Entscheidungsbefugnisse in der Partnerschaft. 3. Fragen zum sozialen Netz: Vertrauensperson; Personen, mit denenregelmäßig Mahlzeiten eingenommen werden und zu denen gefühlsmäßigeBeziehungen bestehen; Personen, von denen eine finanzielle Unterstützungerhalten bzw. an die eine solche gegeben wird; Freizeitpartner;Anzahl der lebenden Großeltern. 4. Schule, Ausbildung und Erwerbstätigkeit: Geburtsjahr undGeburtsmonat; Jahr des Schulabschlusses; Zeitpunkt der ersten Aufnahmeeiner beruflichen Tätigkeit und lückenlose Angabe der beruflichenKarriere; derzeitiger Erwerbsstatus; Wochenstundenzahl; befristetesArbeitsverhältnis; Arbeitsorientierung (Skala); Kindererziehung undBerufstätigkeit; Angaben über die Geschwisterzahl, Enkelzahl,Großelternzahl, Erwerbstätigkeit, berufliche Position undWochenstundenzahl des Ehepartners; Aufgabenteilung in der Partnerschaft;Einstellung zur Ehe (Skala); geschätzter wöchentlicher Aufwand fürFamilien- und Haushaltstätigkeiten; Einstellung zu Kindern (Skala);Konfession; Religiosität; Postmaterialismus; Wohnstatus; monatlicheMiet- bzw. Wohnungskosten; Wohnfläche; Zimmerzahl; Anzahl derKinderzimmer; Angaben über die Infrastrukturversorgung der Wohngegendund Nutzung dieser Einrichtungen; Vorhandensein und Nutzung vonEinrichtungen für Kinder in der näheren Umgebung der Wohnung;Haushaltseinkommen; Einkommensquellen; Vermögensbesitz;Unterhaltsansprüche für Kinder; Regelmäßigkeit des Zahlungseingangs;Kinderbetreuungsregelung; Betreuung pflegebedürftiger Personen imHaushalt; Selbsteinschätzung des Gesundheitszustands; aufgetreteneProbleme im familiären und beruflichen Alltag und dadurch empfundeneBelastung (Skala); Verhütung; Anwender und Entscheider über dieVerhütung; Ehedauer, Anzahl der Verwandten; Haushaltsgröße;wahrgenommene Familie; Berufssituation von Mann und Frau. Zusätzlich im Datensatz sind verschiedene Indizes: Familienzyklus;Familienform; Erziehungsformen; Ehe; Kinder als Last, als Nutzen;Postmaterialismus; Partnerschaft nach Featherman; Infrastruktur;Entfernung zu verschiedenen Verwandten; Pro-Kopf-Einkommen. Zusätzlich verkodet wurden: Bundesland und Kreiskennziffer. Current life situation and ways of life.Social relations and courses of life.Topics:1. Children:number of siblings;sex of siblings;growing up with both parents or single-parent;divorce or other reasons for separation of parents;social origins;child-raising goals;number of children;desired number of children;living together with a partner;living separately;year of separation;right to support or personal payment obligations;regularity of payments deposited.2. Partnership:steady partnership;judgement on living together with partner and quality of partnership (scale);division of decision-making authority in partnership.3. Questions on social net:person to confide in;persons with whom one regularly has meals and to whom emotional relations exist;persons from whom one receives financial support or whom one supports;leisure partner;number of living grandparents.4. School, training and employment:year and month of birth;year of school completion;time of first taking up occupational activity andcomplete information on professional career;current employment status;number of hours each week;temporary work;work orientation (scale);child-raising and employment;information on number of siblings, number of grandchildren,number of grandparents, employment, occupational position andnumber of hours each week of spouse;division of tasks in partnership;attitude to marriage (scale);estimated weekly effort for activities for family and household;attitude to children (scale);religious denomination;religiousness;postmaterialism;residential status;monthly rent or housing costs;floor space;number of rooms;number of children's rooms;information on infrastructure available in one's residential area anduse of these facilities;presence and use of facilities for childrenin the immediate vicinity of one's residence;household income;income sources;possession of assets;right to support for children;regularity of payments;arrangement for child care;looking after persons in need of care in the household;self-assessment of condition of health;problems occurring in daily life in the family and occupationand perceived stress from this (scale);contraception;person using and deciding about contraception;marriage duration, number of relatives;household size;perceived family;occupational situation of man and woman.Additionally there are various indices in the dataset:family cycle;family form;forms of child-raising;marriage;children as burden, as benefit;postmaterialism;partnership after Featherman;infrastructure;distance to various relatives;income per person.Also encoded was:state and district code.