Chinese young adults’ perception of fertility: Emotional contagion in fertility policy discussions on Sina Weibo

We investigated the reactions and preferences of the Chinese populace, particularly young adults, toward China’s three-child policy, a recent strategy aimed at addressing the nation’s aging population that allows couples to have up to three children. By monitoring Sina Weibo discussions related to fertility policies, we gauged public sentiment and potential emotional contagion. We collected 711 main posts and 26,515 responses and used the sentiment analysis method to identify the emotional tendencies of each post, thus determining if emotional contagion occurred. Results showed there were 631 posts with negative emotional contagion effects and 554 posts with positive emotional contagion effects. Further textual analysis indicated that the Chinese public maintains a pessimistic outlook on the three-child policy and expresses concern about the detrimental impact of social circumstances and the difficulties women encounter concerning fertility.