A Cognitive–Social Model of Fertility Intentions

Abstract

We examine the use and value of fertility intentions against the backdrop of theory and research in the cognitive and social sciences. First, we draw on recent brain and cognition research to contextualize fertility intentions within a broader set of conscious and unconscious mechanisms that contribute to mental function. Next, we integrate this research with social theory. Our conceptualizations suggest that people do not necessarily have fertility intentions; they form them only when prompted by specific situations. Intention formation draws on the current situation and on schemas of childbearing and parenthood learned through previous experience, imbued by affect, and organized by self-representation. Using this conceptualization, we review apparently discordant knowledge about the value of fertility intentions in predicting fertility. Our analysis extends and deepens existing explanations for the weak predictive validity of fertility intentions at the individual level and provides a social-cognitive explanation for why intentions predict as well as they do. When focusing on the predictive power of intentions at the aggregate level, our conceptualizations lead us to focus on how social structures frustrate or facilitate intentions and how the structural environment contributes to the formation of reported intentions in the first place. Our analysis suggests that existing measures of fertility intentions are useful but to varying extents and in many cases despite their failure to capture what they seek to measure.

Another work-family interface: Work characteristics and family intentions in Japan

“…Demographers have long been interested in fertility intentions (e.g., Bachrach and Morgan 2013;Morgan and Rackin 2010;Rindfuss, Morgan, and Swicegood 1988). Fertility intentions, though they change throughout life (Hayford 2009), are highly predictive of future fertility behavior Tsukasa 2009).…”

Governmental Support for Families and Obstacles to Fertility in East Asia and Other Industrialized Regions

“…In reality, there is, of course, more complexity involved. Recent literature deals with how desires are formed and lead to intentions, how they change over time, and possible discrepancies in desires and intentions between partners (e.g., Bachrach and Morgan 2013). From the comparative perspective of this paper, however, these issues may not be very important, and only the possibility of different desires between partners is touched on briefly.…”

Wie konzipieren wir Kinderkriegen?

“…Danach geht der Intention ein in motivationalen Substraten im Gehirn wurzelnder Kinderwunsch voraus. Ein neuerer Ansatz ist die "Theory of Conjunctural Action" (TCA), die sozio-, psycho-, bio-und neurowissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse für eine "kognitiv-soziale Modellierung der Intentionalität" kombiniert (Bachrach & Morgan 2013;vgl. Johnson-Hanks et al 2011).…”