Stability and change in personal fertility ideals among U.S. women in heterosexual relationships

Explaining uncertainty in women's fertility preferences

People's fertility preferences are often considered an important determinant of fertility. What is often neglected in studies of preferred fertility, is the uncertainty that people may have about their preferences. In this study, using data on Dutch women through the Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences (collected early 2018), we examined women's fertility preferences and asked detailed questions about the certainty of these preferences. We also examined whether women agreed with their partner on preferred family size, and to what extent partner (dis)agreement shaped uncertainty. We show that Dutch women expressed much uncertainty about their fertility preferences, with only one-third feeling strongly about their preferences. Uncertainty strongly increased when women preferred higher numbers of children, whereas already having children reduced it. Women who wanted no children were most certain about their preference. Higher preferred family sizes also led to more disagreement with the partner about these preferences, and greater partner disagreement, in turn, led to more uncertainty. These findings imply that people are more likely to downgrade their fertility preferences than to increase them, as women are more certain about their preferences for lower numbers of children and are more open to family sizes below than above their preferred choice. Partner disagreement is often resolved by not having (more) children, lowering realised fertility. Hence, these findings provide another explanation for why many people have fewer children than desired.

Associations between early family environment and ideal number of children

Childhood family is vital for the formation of fertility preferences and attitudes towards family life. Yet previous studies mainly focused on structural aspects of the family, whereas the role of perceptions of one's family in relation to fertility preferences remained largely understudied. This study examined how different aspects of the early family environment (i.e. relationships with parents, happiness in childhood, parental conflicts, family resources, as well as family structure) are related to the ideal number of children reported in adulthood. Using representative cross-sectional survey data from the Finnish Family Barometer 2015, the sample comprised men and women aged 20-45 with and without children. Poisson regression models indicated that a higher number of siblings was associated with a higher ideal number of children, whereas living in a single-parent household and overall negative perceptions of parents were related to a lower ideal number of children independent of various socio-demographic characteristics. Further analyses showed that these family characteristics were associated with the ideal number of children mainly among childless people but not among parents. The findings suggest that the early family environment is related to the formation of the ideal number of children, especially for childless people.

How genuine are sub-replacement ideal family sizes in urban China?

Ideal family sizes remain at or above two in most low-fertility settings, but sub-replacement fertility ideals have been reported for urban China. The presence of restrictive family planning policies has led to a debate as to whether such ideals are genuine. This study exploits the ending of the one-child policy and the beginning of a universal two-child policy in October 2015 to investigate whether relaxing the restrictions led to an increase in ideal family size. We apply difference-in-differences and individual-level fixed-effect models to longitudinal data from a near-nationwide survey. For married individuals aged 20-39, relaxing the restrictions from one to two children increased the mean ideal family size by around 0.2 and the proportion who desired two or more children by around 19 percentage points. Findings suggest that although reported ideal family sizes have been reduced by policy restrictions, sub-replacement ideal family sizes in urban China appear to be genuine.

Women's fertility knowledge and their number of children ever born: A cross‐sectional study in Shiraz, Iran

Background and Aims

Remarkable changes in the demographic behaviors of Iranian women have led to declining fertility since the 1980s. Therefore, the study of fertility has become very important. Iranian policy makers are developing new population policies. Because fertility knowledge influences women's childbearing, the purpose of this study was to look into the relationship between women's fertility knowledge and the total number of children born.

Methods

A cross‐sectional design and a survey were used in this investigation. In 2022, 1065 married women of reproductive age in Shiraz were surveyed. The data was collected using a standard questionnaire and multistage clustering sampling. The interviewers were first given the necessary training. At the time of the survey, the interviewers first gave information about the research to the surveyed women to gain their trust. To analyze the data, the characteristics of women were described first, and then the relationships between the variables were examined using correlation tests.

Results

Increasing women's fertility knowledge reduced the number of children. Women's actual fertility had increased in tandem with their ideal fertility. The number of children increased as women's ages and the ages of their husbands grew older. Increased women's education resulted in a decrease in the number of children. Women with employed husbands had more children than their other counterparts. Women with middle class identity had lower fertility than women who belonged to the lower class.

Conclusion

In confirmation of the findings of previous studies, the low level of fertility knowledge, especially in the issue of factors affecting infertility, was the most important finding of this research. This study, in continuation of previous studies, showed the decreasing effect of fertility knowledge of the number of children. Regarding the low fertility knowledge of women, population and health policies should consider improving women's knowledge of fertility.

The role of motherhood schemas and life transitions in reproductive intention formation

OBJECTIVE

This study provides a theory-based snapshot of the processes involved in women's fertility intention formation and decisions regarding the timing of motherhood.

BACKGROUND

The trend to defer childbearing is linked with both empowering and challenging outcomes for women. The cognitive-social (C-S) model suggests that deliberative thinking regarding reproduction occurs following fertility-relevant life transitions, which results in fluctuations in motherhood schemas and fertility intentions. This framework was applied to explore fertility intention formation.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve women who either had children or desired children.

RESULTS

Two overarching themes central to the C-S model are discussed: (a) passive expectations and (b) deliberative intentions. Women's motherhood schemas were often underpinned by schematic structures (e.g. group norms and scripts) and material structures (e.g. observational influences). Life transitions and personal experiences tended to prompt deliberative thinking about motherhood plans.

CONCLUSION

The results were generally consistent with the C-S model, but highlight complexities to consider when investigating fertility expectations and intentions.

Types of reproductive orientations of modern students

The aim of the study is to analyze the socio-demographic and activity-motivational factors that determine the type of youth reproductive orientations. The object of the study is students of Vavilov Saratov State Agrarian University. Formation of the target sample is due to the need to consider the reproductive orientations of young people in conjunction with the desire to live and work in rural areas. The information base of the study is the results of a sociological study conducted by the Institute of Agrarian Problems RAS (216 respondents). The work shows that the cause of the formation of narrowed reproductive orientations is the shift of the value of family and children to the last places in the system of life priorities of this group of young people who prefer to focus on development of individual human capital and self-realization in profession. They are convinced that children are associated with a great responsibility and restriction of freedom, so any measures to increase the birth rate are of little interest to them. Young people with extended reproductive orientations are characterized by child-centric attitudes, with a high value of family lifestyles and traditional gender stereotypes. Most of them associate effectiveness of measures to increase the birth rate with economic instruments and development of a social infrastructure for maternity and child support. It has been found out that the selected typological groups of reproductive orientations of today's youth are characterized by different potential for future reproductive behavior, which leads to differentiation of tools to increase the birth rate for these groups of young people.

A Panel Study of Fertility Preferences and Contraceptive Dynamics in the Presence of Competing Pregnancy Risks in Uganda

Although many studies have examined the influence of women's fertility preferences on subsequent fertility behavior and the role of contraceptive use intentions on unmet need, very few have explored their concurrent effects on contraceptive use dynamics. This study examines the independent concurrent effects of women's fertility preferences and contraceptive intentions on subsequent adoption and discontinuation, treating pregnancy as a competing risk factor that may alter contraceptive need. The data are derived from a 2018 follow-up survey of a 2014 national sample of 3,800 Ugandan female respondents of childbearing age. The survey included a contraceptive calendar that recorded pregnancy, birth, and contraceptive event episodes, including reasons for discontinuation. We use competing risk regression to estimate the effect of fertility preferences and contraceptive intentions on the cumulative incidence function of contraceptive behaviors, accounting for intervening pregnancy, female background covariates, loss to follow-up, and complex survey design. We find that women's contraceptive intentions significantly increase the rate of contraceptive adoption. After having adopted, women's contraceptive intentions have been realized and do not prolong use. The risk of discontinuation among women who adopted after baseline was significantly higher than for those using at baseline, irrespective of their initial intentions. The effectiveness of the type of contraceptive method chosen significantly lowered discontinuation risk. Fertility preferences were not significantly associated with either time to adoption or discontinuation. The pace of the fertility transition in this sub-Saharan African setting is likely being shaped by reproductive regulation through the intentional use of contraception that enables spacing births.