Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Uncertain, Changing and Situated Fertility Intentions

A Qualitative Analysis

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Reproductive Decision-Making in a Macro-Micro Perspective

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the multiple dimensions of declarations of fertility intention in order to provide a critical reading of currently used indicators of the childbearing decision-making process. Using a qualitative approach, we pay attention to the complexity of the process through which individuals make (or fail to make) plans regarding their reproductive future. The data are a series of comparable in-depth interviews conducted in a number of European countries with varying fertility levels, and differing normative and institutional contexts. First, we analyse the meanings that respondents attribute to their childbearing intentions, paying particular attention to uncertain intentions that are often under-analysed. Second, we study the ways in which individuals vary in holding to their intentions over time, and consider why they might change their minds, even over relatively short periods of time. Third, we examine how several aspects of the larger social context (attitudes towards having children, family policy, norms related to the division of labour, norms about the timing of children) shape fertility intentions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    We would like to thank all researchers who contributed to the coding of the interviews in the original languages for their invaluable contribution: Laura Cavalli, Arianna Caporali, Sylvia Keim, Andreas Klärner, Anne Salles, Sara Brachet, Marie Thérèse Letablier, Elitsa Dimitrova, Atanas Atanasov and Judit Durst.

  2. 2.

    The initial number of couples interviewed was 31, hence there were 62 interviewees. In the second wave, only 40 individuals were re-interviewed. In the third wave, efforts were made to recuperate individuals who had not been interviewed in the second wave, and in the end, the total number of third-wave participants was 42. A total of 52 individuals participated in the panel (irrespective of wave) at least twice.

References

  • Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhn & J. Beckman (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11–39). Heidelberg: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Chicago: Dorsey Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bankole, A., & Westoff, C. (1998). The consistency and validity of reproductive attitudes: evidence from Morocco. Journal of Biosocial Science, 30(4), 439–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, J. S. (2001). Ideational influences on the transition to parenthood: Attitudes towards childbearing and competing alternatives. Social Psychology Quarterly, 64(2), 101–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, G., & Wellings, K. (2000). Understanding pregnancy intentions: A problem in evidence everywhere, letter to the editor. Family Planning Perspectives, 32(4), 194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernardi, L., & Mynarska, M. (2010). Definitively yes, definitively not, as soon as, maybe, at times, definitively one day: understanding declared fertility intentions. Deliverable 5.13 Scientific report: Typology of individual orientations and life course contingencies. Reproductive decision-making in a macro–micro perspective (REPRO) in the Seventh Framework Programme (Grant Agreement: 671 SSH-CT-2008-217173).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernardi, L., Caporali, A., & Valarino, I. (2009, September 2–5). Subjective representations of gender role-set in southern Italy. Paper presented at the European Sociological Association, Lisbon.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Silva, W. (1992). Achievement of reproductive intentions in Sri Lanka, 1982–1985: A longitudinal study. Social Biology, 39(1–2), 123–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: an introduction to theory and research. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foreit, K., & Suh, M. (1980). The effect of reproductive intentions on subsequent fertility among low-parity Korean women, 1971–76. Studies in Family Planning, 11(3), 91–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, R., & Hermalin, A. (1975). Do statements about desired family size predict fertility? The case of Taiwan, 1967–1970. Demography, 12(3), 407–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gribaldo, A., Judd, M., & Kertzer, D. (2009). An imperfect contraceptive society: Fertility and contraception in Italy. Population and Development Review, 35(3), 551–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermalin, A., et al. (1979). Do intentions predict fertility? The experience in Taiwan, 1967–74. Studies in Family Planning, 10(3), 75–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luker, K. (1996). Dubious conceptions: The politics of teenage pregnancy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luker, K. (1999). A reminder that human behavior frequently refuses to conform to models created by researchers. Family Planning Perspectives, 31(5), 248–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matysiak, A., & Mynarska, M. (2010). Women’s determination to combine childbearing and paid employment: How can a qualitative approach help us understand quantitative evidence? Working Papers, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics. Working paper no. 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. B. (1994). Childbearing motivations, desires, and intentions: a theoretical framework. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 120(2), 223–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. B. (1995). Childbearing motivation and its measurement. Journal of Biosocial Science, 27(4), 473–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. B. (2011). Comparing the TPB and the T-D-I-B framework. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 9, 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. B., Pasta, D., MacMurray, J., Chiu, C., Wu, S., & Comings, D. (1999). Genetic influences on childbearing motivation: A theoretical framework and some empirical evidence. In L. Severy & W. Miller (Eds.), Advances in population: Psychosocial perspectives (Vol. 3, pp. 53–102). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, S. P. (1982). Parity-specific fertility intentions and uncertainty: The United States, 1970 to 1976. Demography, 19(3), 315–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mynarska, M. (2009a). Individual fertility choices in Poland. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mynarska, M. (2009b). Values of children and the lowest-low fertility: The Polish case. Paper presented at the IUSSP Population Conference, Marrakesh, 27 Sept–2 Oct 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mynarska, M. (2010). Deadline for parenthood: Fertility postponement and age norms in Poland. European Journal of Population, 26(3), 351–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mynarska, M., Capporali, A., Dimitrova, E., Durst, J., & Klaerner A. (2009). Between economic necessity, professional aspirations and motherhood: Women’s attitudes towards paid work in post-socialist countries. Paper presented at the IUSSP Population Conference, side meeting on reproductive decision-making in a macro-micro perspective (REPRO), Marrakesh, 27 Sept 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philipov, D., & Bernardi, L. (2012). Concepts and operationalisation of reproductive decisions. Implementation in Austria, Germany, Switzerland. Comparative Population Studies – Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft, 36(2–3), 495–530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossier, C., & Bernardi, L. (2009). Social interaction effects on fertility: Intentions and behaviors. European Journal of Population, 25, 467–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossier, C., Brachet, S., & Salles, A. (2012). National family models, individual attitudes towards gender roles, and fertility intentions in France and Germany. In Vienna yearbook of population research 2011 (Vol. 9, pp. 259–282).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sable, M., & Libbus, M. (2000). Pregnancy intention and pregnancy happiness: Are they different? Maternal and Child Health Journal, 4(3), 191–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salles, A., Rossier, C., & Brachet, S. (2010). Understanding the long-term effects of family policies on fertility: The diffusion of different family models in France and Germany. Demographic Research, 22(34), 1057–1096.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santelli, J., et al. (2003). The measurement and meaning of unintended pregnancy. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 35(2), 94–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santelli, J., Duberstein Lindberg, L., Orr, M., Finer, L., & Speizer, I. (2009). Exploring key dimensions of pregnancy intentions. Paper presented at the IUSSP Population Conference, Marrakesh, 27 Sept–2 Oct 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoen, R., et al. (1999). Do fertility intentions affect fertility behavior? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61(3), 790–799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobotka, T. (2008). Overview chapter 6: The diverse faces of the second demographic transition in Europe. Demographic Research 19(8). Available from: http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol19/8/

  • Speizer, I., Santelli, J., Afable-Munsuz, A., & Kendall, C. (2004). Measuring factors underlying intendedness of women’s first and later pregnancies. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 36(5), 198–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford, J. B., Hobbs, R., Jameson, P., DeWitt, M. J., & Fischer, R. C. (2000). Defining dimensions of pregnancy intendedness. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 4(3), 183–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, E., & Brandreth, Y. (1995). Measuring fertility demand. Demography, 32(1), 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trussell, J., Vaughan, B., & Stanford, J. (1999). Are all contraceptive failures unintended pregnancies? Evidence from the 1995 national survey of family growth. Family Planning Perspectives, 31(5), 246–247 & 260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Kaa, D. J. (1996). Anchored narratives: The story and findings of half a century of research into the determinants of fertility. Population Studies, 50, 389–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vikat, A., Spéder, Z., Beets, G., Billari, F. C., Bühler, C., Désesquelles, A., et al. (2007). Generations and Gender Survey (GGS): Towards a better understanding of relationships and processes in the life course. Demographic Research, 17(14), 389–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss National Center for Competences in Research LIVES, Institute of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Laura Bernardi

  2. Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Monika Mynarska

  3. I-DEMO, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Clémentine Rossier

  4. Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED), Paris, France

    Clémentine Rossier

Authors
  1. Laura Bernardi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Monika Mynarska
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Clémentine Rossier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Bernardi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wittgenstein Ctr for Demography and Human Capital, Vienna Institute of Demography, Vienna, Austria

    Dimiter Philipov

  2. Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Aart C. Liefbroer

  3. Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics, Centre for Arts, Science and Knowledge, University Bocconi, Milan, Italy

    Jane E. Klobas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bernardi, L., Mynarska, M., Rossier, C. (2015). Uncertain, Changing and Situated Fertility Intentions. In: Philipov, D., Liefbroer, A., Klobas, J. (eds) Reproductive Decision-Making in a Macro-Micro Perspective. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9401-5_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation