Do Fertility Intentions Affect Fertility Behavior?

Schoen, Robert; Astone, Nan Marie; Kim, Young Jin; Nathanson, Constance A.; Fields, Jason

doi:10.2307/353578

Cited by 409 publications

(391 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…It may also indicate respondents' willingness to formulate or adjust fertility plans in accordance with their future partnership situation and their partner's preferences. As Schoen et al (1999) show, fertility intentions are strongly contingent on marriage (or lasting union). For women in their mid-and late-30s, however, a different conceptualisation of uncertainty appears appropriate: Many 'older' uncertain respondents probably do not have a strong childbearing motivation and are unlikely to have a(nother) child later in life.…”

Section: Discussion Of Major Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, a focus on young adults offers important insights about aggregate changes in childbearing desires at this pivotal stage of life when reproductive plans are being formed (see also Liefbroer 2008). This analysis is also relevant for making inferences about the likely future trends in fertility: desired family size may be seen as the most critical determinant of future fertility (Schoen et al 1999;Bongaarts 2001). Considering that there are many reasons for the fertility desires of some couples to remain unrealised (see Sect.…”

Section: Intended Family Size and Parity Distribution Among Young Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sub-Replacement Fertility Intentions in Austria

Sobotka¹

2009

Eur J Population

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Combining the data of the 1986-2001 Microcensus surveys, I reconstruct trends in fertility intentions across time and over the life course of Austrian women born since the 1950s. Young adults in Austria expressed fertility intentions that were below the replacement-level threshold as early as in 1986 and women born since the mid-1950s consistently desired fewer than two children on average throughout their reproductive lives. A two-child family norm, however, still clearly dominates the fertility intentions of different age, cohort and education groups. Uncertainty about childbearing intentions is rather common, especially among younger and childless respondents. Different assumptions about reproductive preferences of undecided respondents affect estimates of the mean intended family size. Although Austrians were among the first in Europe to express low fertility intentions, their position is no longer unique. By the early 2000s, young women in a number of other European countries also expressed sub-replacement fertility intentions.

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Section: Discussion Of Major Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intended Family Size and Parity Distribution Among Young Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub-Replacement Fertility Intentions in Austria

Sobotka¹

2009

Eur J Population

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“…One crucial requirement is a certain temporal stability of intentions: the longer the intentions are Attitudes,Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control 443 not fulfilled, the less probable that the behaviour would occur, because the social environment around the individual may change. Hence, intentions become more meaningful when the period to their actual realisation is short and the time interval is specified (see also Philipov et al 2006;Schoen et al 1999). Closely connected to temporal stability of intentions is their level of certainty at the time of measurement.…”

Section: Timing Parity-progression Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…that attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control influence fertility intentions also when background factors are controlled for. Two other studies have focused on the TPB or on parts of its framework (Liefbroer 2005;Schoen et al 1999). However, differently from previous studies our question focuses on all three factors, and deals with a lowest-low fertility context.…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Miller's and Pasta's model of child timing, child-timing intentions are seen as a variable to behaviour, whereas child-timing desires are seen as antecedent to childtiming intentions. Life-course studies base on the social-psychological perspective of the TPB include Liefbroer and De Jong Gierveld (1993), on the choice between cohabitation and marriage; Abrams et al (1999) Schoen et al (1999) discuss the importance of the TPB and of the focus on intentions as the key variable to understand fertility decision-making. Closely related to this study are the articles by Liefbroer (2005), who analyses costs and benefits of having a child and subsequent behaviour, by Barber (2001), who examines the attitudes towards childbearing among those oriented towards other competing alternatives in one's life, by Philipov and colleagues, who study the role of anomie and social capital in shaping fertility intentions (Philipov et al 2006) and by Bühler (2008) on the value of children in a network-based perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attitudes, Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control: Explaining Fertility Intentions in Bulgaria

Billari¹,

Philipov²,

Testa³

2009

Eur J Population

202

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In this article, we study fertility decision-making through timing parity-progression intentions. The theoretical framework builds on Ajzen's socialpsychological ''Theory of Planned Behavior'': intentions are seen as directly dependent on three components: attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control. We study the case of Bulgaria, a ''lowest-low'' fertility country. In 2002, a sample survey containing a specially designed module was conducted. This module included an implementation of our framework, with a special attention to the links between normative pressure and the social network of respondents. Results show that the three components are broadly predictive of fertility intentions. More specifically, attitudes are more relevant than norms for higher parities. Socio-economic, ideational, psychological and social capital-based factors are relevant background determinants.Keywords Fertility intentions Á Theory of planned behavior Á Bulgaria Á Lowest-low fertility Á Norms Résumé Dans cet article, nous étudions les décisions en matière de fécondité à l'aide des intentions d'agrandissement avec référence temporelle. Le cadre conceptuel est celui de la théorie psychosociologique du comportement prévu d'Ajzen, selon laquelle les intentions dépendent de façon directe de trois éléments : les attitudes, les normes et le contrôle perçu du comportement. L'étude concerne la Bulgarie, un pays dont la fécondité est des plus basses. En 2002, une enquête par sondage comportant un module de questions construit à cette fin a été menée. Ce 123Eur J Population (2009( ) 25:439-465 DOI 10.1007 module comprenait les éléments pour mettre en oeuvre notre cadre conceptuel, en accordant une attention particulière aux liens entre la pression normative et le réseau social des enquêtés. Les résultats montrent que les trois éléments de la théorie sont des facteurs de prédiction des intentions de fécondité. Plus spécifiquement, les attitudes sont plus pertinentes que les normes pour le passage au deuxième enfant. Les facteurs socio-économiques, idéationnels, psychologiques et ceux basés sur le capital social sont pertinents comme déterminants de contexte.

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