Female university students’ fertility intentions and their psychosocial factors: a cross-sectional survey in Nanjing, China

Abstract

Background: With the demographic dividend diminishing at an accelerated rate, raising the fertility rate can successfully boost the ensuing labor supply and lessen the negative effects of an aging population on high-quality economic growth. Despite the ”three-child” policy that the Chinese government has implemented, the fertility rate is continually declining. This study aims to examine the current state of female university students’ fertility intentions and evaluate the level of feminist impact on those intentions. From there, it will explore the extent and pathways of the psychosocial factors’ influence on those intentions. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of female university students was conducted in Nanjing, China, from February to March 2023. To assure the representativeness of the sample, a technique of stratified proportional sampling, PPS sampling, and convenience sampling was utilized. A total of 1124 valid samples were acquired from female university students in 15 comprehensive universities. The data were mined and analysed by SPSS (version 24.0) and AMOS (version 24.0) software. Results: Overall female university students’ fertility intentions are low at this stage, with more than half (53.55%) of them having no clear desire to have children. The level of feminist identity significantly negatively affected the Intensity of desire to have children (-0.32) and child-number desires (-0.7). Psychosocial factors had a greater degree of influence on fertility intentions. The direct effect of the level of feminist identity and the perception of fertility hindrances on childbearing desires was -0.63 and -0.50 respectively, and the direct effect of the perception of fertility supports on childbearing intentions was 0.79. Conclusion: The level of feminist identity is significantly and negatively related to childbearing desires. Psychosocial factors have a greater degree of influence on fertility intentions, with the level of feminist identity, the perception of fertility hindrances and the perception of fertility supports all significantly impacting fertility intentions. The findings of this study emphasise the importance of the government providing a full range of social security and employers providing better employee benefits to promote a fertility-friendly society. Keywords: Fertility intention, Female university students, Influencing factors