Based on the 2021 survey data on fertility and childcare service intentions of childbearing-age parents, the study found that the sharing model of family childrearing responsibility is mainly divided into two categories, namely the “male as breadwinner” model and the “dual earner-dual carer” model. Compared to the “male as breadwinner” model, the “dual earner-dual carer” model can significantly reduces the intention to have another child of childbearing-age gruop. The paid maternity leave policy (time-support policy) exerts a negative moderating effect, enhancing the negative impact of the “dual earner-dual carer” model on the intention to have another child, while the tax reduction policy (economic-support policy) plays the opposite effect, weakening the negative impact of the “dual earner-dual carer” model on the intention to have another child. The childcare services (service-support policy) have not produced significant effects. These findings suggest that the government should optimize the fertility support policies by fully considering the sharing model of family childrearing responsibility, in order to reduce childrearing pressure and promote fertility intention through reasonable division of childrearing responsibility among different subjects.

In the context of the universal two-child policy, this paper investigates the impact of grandparent care and formal childcare on fertility desire of secondchild based on the national fertility survey conducted in 2017. Using binary logistic regression and propensity score matching methods, we find that both of the two childcare modes have significant effects on the fertility desire of secondchild but their influencing directions are opposite: the grandparent care significantly increases the propensity to have the second child, while the formal childcare has a negative impact. Further study shows that the number of kindergartens per capita in prefecturelevel cities plays a positive moderating effect, weakening the role of formal childcare in reducing the fertility desire, while the average childcare costs in prefecturelevel cities play a negative moderating effect, strengthening the negative effect of formal childcare on fertility desire of the second child. Therefore, this paper suggests that increasing the supply of affordable public childcare services is the most effective policy to increase the fertility desire to have a second child.