In economics theory, education is viewed as a financial investment. The financial returns on education are well documented, but attention to the non-pecuniary returns of higher education is still very limited in the literature. Moreover, this issue has not been systematically studied based on a Taiwanese sample. This paper uses the Taiwan Youth Project to examine the relationships between highest degree and non-pecuniaryrelated job characteristics, health, well-being, and addictive behaviors. Diplomas are classified into below college, bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. The non-pecuniary job characteristics considered in the paper are current job status, occupational prestige scores, occupational socioeconomic status scores, work benefits, to what degree one’s job is related to one’s major, and job satisfaction. The measures of well-being include being happy about one’s life and satisfaction with life. The addictive behaviors are smoking and drinking. The paper uses an ordinary least squares regression model when the dependent variable is binary, but a multinomial logit modelwhen the dependent variable has multiple categories. Results indicate that compared with those without a college degree, individuals with a college degree or above have a higher likelihood of having a job. They are likely to work in a job with a better occupational prestige score and occupational socioeconomic status score, and have more work benefits and a job more closely related to their field of expertise. In addition, their subjective health evaluation is better, and they are less likely to have addictive behaviors relative to those without a college diploma. Taken individually, each piece of the empirical results is not sufficient to prove the existence of nonpecuniary returns of higher education, but combined, all the results suggest that higher education brings non-pecuniary benefits both inside and outside of the labor market. These results help us understand one of the possible reasons behind the phenomenon that even though the pecuniary returns of higher education are declining, people’s demand for higher education is still strong. Keywords: educational attainment, non-pecuniary returns of higher education, occupational prestige scores, health, addictive behaviors

Social scientists have long been interested in how an increase in educational status affects childbearing intentions and behavior, leading to the postponement of parenthood. What has been missing is information on whether attitudes toward education at earlier ages predict fertility outcomes, and on how parents’ attitudes affect children during their transition to adulthood. Using longitudinal panel data from the Taiwan Youth Project (TYP) between 2000 and 2017, we examine the relationship between adolescents’ educational expectations and the timing of their entry into parenthood. Aside from children’s own attitudes, we also address how parents’ attitudes with respect to a child’s education influence this same timing. We find that higher educational expectations contribute to a delay in parenthood or a decision to have fewer children. In addition, parents’ educational preferences for their child have an independent effect on the child’s timing of entry into parenthood. There are notable gender differences regarding the relationship between educational attitudes and the transition into parenthood. Specifically, parents’ attitudes have greater bearing on men than women. Young adult men whose parents expect them to attend a graduate program and complete a post-bachelor’s degree have the lowest rate of entering parenthood at a younger age. And young adult women with an expectation of receiving a bachelor’s degree (but not a post-bachelor’s degree) are more likely to postpone the timing of transition into parenthood. The implications of these findings are discussed in the conclusion. Keywords: transition to parenthood, first birth, educational expectation, intergenerational relationships, life course

Abstract Past research has shown that gender role attitude plays an important part in the division of domestic work. However, as gender role attitudes become more egalitarian, the division of housework remains traditional, with women still doing most of the work. The two opposite trends signify the attitude-behavior gap of housework. Using data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey 2002 and 2012, we aim to answer three questions. First, how has the division of domestic work, gender role attitude, and the gap between them changed? Second, what are the factors influencing the attitude-behavior gap? Third, what can we learn through the comparison of the factors influencing the division of housework and the attitudebehavior gap? The results show that (1) gender role attitudes are becoming more egalitarian for both men and women. Men’s share of housework is rising due to a decrease in total housework time, not their increase time on housework. The attitude-behavior gap has worsened more for women than men, due to a higher increase of women possessing modern gender roleattitudes and a higher share of housework. (2) Available time and relative resources theories, especially the latter, explain the attitude-behavior types both for men and women. Higher work time and income lead to a decrease and increase for men and women respectively in being the “no attitudebehavior gap modern” type. (3) Although education has been recognized as bringing an egalitarian housework division, it also brings an attitudebehavior gap. Among all the factors examined, women’s income shows a crucial influence on both bringing gender egalitarianism to housework and decreasing the attitude-behavior gap at the same time. Keywords: division of housework, gender role attitude, attitude-behavior gap

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