Suchergebnisse

The postponement of childbearing is occurring across Europe, but the paths of this trend differ profoundly from country to country. In Poland, as in other Central and Eastern European countries, most women have their first child at a relatively young age. This article asks about the role of age norms in sustaining the pattern of early motherhood. We investigate young adults' perceptions of age in relation to their fertility choices. We find that age is, indeed, a salient dimension that structures and regulates individual childbearing plans. The qualitative approach of our study allows for gaining insights into how age norms are explained, argued about and sanctioned. Finally, we reconstruct the mechanisms of the normative influence of age limits (deadlines) on fertility behaviour, improving our understanding of the timing of childbearing.

A rapid fertility decline observed in Poland since the 1990s has been accompanied by a marked increase in childlessness. This may seem surprising given the high value placed on parenthood in the country. Some evidence exists on how childlessness in Poland relates to biological and situational constraints, but still relatively little is known about how the decision to never have children is made, especially among men. This article contributes to this literature by analysing how the perceived positive and negative consequences of parenthood affect the reproductive intentions of childless women and men of different socioeconomic characteristics in Poland. Using a subsample of childless respondents extracted from the second wave of the Polish Generation and Gender Survey, we examine the interplay between (a) the intention to remain childless, (b) the perceived costs and benefits of having children, included as a unique set of questions in the Polish Generation and Gender Survey (GGS), and (c) respondents' socioeconomic characteristics (education, employment, household financial situation, and the size of the place of residence). The results suggest that among women both costs and benefits strongly affect the likelihood of intending to remain childless, whereas among men only the benefits matter. While the effects do not depend on any of the socioeconomic characteristics, the probability of not intending to have a child does vary by some of them. Our results indicate the pattern of fertility polarisation already seen in some low‐fertility countries: for the disadvantaged segment of the population, it is increasingly difficult to become parents.

Abstract
This article provides insights into employment decisions of mothers and mothers-to-be in a post-socialist Poland around the entry to the EU. Previous studies for this country continuously pointed to a strong determination among mothers to be employed during the economic transformation, despite increasing obstacles to combining paid work with childrearing over the 1990s. We analyse in-depth interviews to explore women's motives to work for pay. We investigate how these motives are related to women's childbearing experiences and intentions. Our analyses show that motherhood was central in women's lives at this point in Polish history, but females sought to combine it with employment. We also find that women's perceptions about their ability to balance work and motherhood were strongly related to the meanings that they attached to paid work.

SummaryThis study examined the potential of the theoretical model proposed by Warren Miller (the Traits/Motives–Desires–Intentions–Behaviour or TDIB model) for investigating the involuntary–voluntary childlessness continuum. The first three stages of the theoretical motivational sequence (motives to desires to intentions) were examined using a purposive sample of 314 childless Polish men and women aged 30–39 (at the time of data collection in September 2013). In Poland, this is the age range when the final decision for or against parenthood is taken. To model the motivational sequence, the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was applied. The results confirmed the hypothesized relations between the constructs for childless individuals in the analysed age group. Their childbearing desires were found to be good predictors of reproductive intentions, while negative and positive childbearing motives (independently) underpinned their desires. Moreover, positive motives appeared to have a stronger effect on desires than negative ones. The study also documented the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of the Childbearing Questionnaire, which was originally developed by Miller to measure childbearing motives. The advantages of using this tool for investigating the involuntary–voluntary childlessness continuum are discussed. Overall, the study validated the theoretical model as well as the adaptation of the Childbearing Questionnaire in the new research context: in the new cultural setting and for examining reproductive choices of a specific subpopulation. Directions for future research that could build on the TDIB model and allow for a deeper understanding of permanent childlessness are outlined.

Objective: We aim to investigate how the perceived consequences of COVID-19 affect people's childbearing intentions in Poland. Background: With the pandemic having an impact on virtually all spheres of people's lives, some evidence already exists that it will lead to fertility postponement, as people are reluctant to make their reproductive choices in such uncertain times. Method: We analyse a nationally representative sample of 1000 respondents aged 18-49. In the sample, 234 respondents declared that they had intended to have a child before the outbreak of the pandemic and about 20% of them stated having postponed or foregone their intention because of COVID-19. We perform logistic regression analyses to verify which perceived consequences of the pandemic are most decisive for this choice. We supplement our analyses with insights from qualitative, open-ended question on the effects of the pandemic. Results: We find that people's decision to postpone childbearing is related to respondents' perceived lower sense of financial security and worse mental well-being in the pandemic. In the model, where both factors are included, only mental well-being remains significant. Qualitative analyses point to several other factors important to fertility decisions in the pandemic, e.g., women's fear of lonely childbirth. Conclusion: People's decision to postpone childbearing because of COVID-19 is mostly related to pandemic-induced financial insecurity and this effect seems to be mediated by the psychological reaction to the situation.

Research on the relationship between religiosity and fertility intentions revealed substantial cross-national differences. In some countries, a strong and positive effect of religiosity on fertility intentions was found, while in others, the effect was weaker or not significant, and the reasons underlying these cross-national differences are still unclear. The aim of this article is to explain these macro-level differences from the perspective of the prevailing gender regime. We argue that in countries with more traditional regimes, a stronger effect of religiosity on fertility intentions could be expected than in countries with a more egalitarian view. We make use of the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey and incorporate data from a total of 12 European countries in our analysis. We examine the influence of gender regime according to various macro-level indicators on gender attitudes and gender equality using meta-regression analyses. We also conduct robustness checks using other indicators such as the Gender Development Index. Our results reveal that the gender regime is only able to explain these differences in certain situations, specifically those relating to the long-term fertility intentions of men.

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the positive relationship between religiosity and fertility from the perspective of perceived consequences of parenthood. Previous studies in Germany have found that highly religious people ascribe higher benefits and lower costs to having children. Furthermore, the impact of costs and benefits on fertility is less pronounced among the highly religious. This study tested these mechanisms for fertility intentions and in the context of Poland – a country with a low fertility rate and high religiosity in comparison to other European countries. A sample of 4892 men and women of childbearing age from the second wave of the Polish version of the Generations and Gender Survey conducted in 2014/2015 was used. First, the extent to which perceived costs and benefits mediate the impact of religiosity on fertility intentions was analysed. Second, whether religiosity moderates the impact of perceived costs and benefits on fertility intentions was investigated. The results show that part of the positive effect of religiosity on fertility intentions can be explained by more-religious people seeing higher benefits of having children. Furthermore, but only in the case of women, religiosity moderates the impact of perceived costs on fertility intentions, suggesting that the effect of perceived costs decreases with increasing religiosity.

Le rôle de la religiosité et du genre dans l'élaboration des décisions en matière de fécondité a fait l'objet de nombreuses études ces dernières années. Cette littérature a toutefois mis en évidence une énigme intéressante. Alors que la religiosité a un effet positif sur la fécondité, en partie grâce à la promotion des rôles sexospécifiques traditionnels, l'égalité des sexes s'avère elle aussi avoir eu un impact positif – plutôt que négatif – sur la fécondité. Nous abordons cette ambiguïté dans l'effet de la religiosité et des rôles de genre en examinant leurs effets spécifiques sur les intentions en matière de fécondité et leurs réalisations. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons les données de la première et de la deuxième vagues de l'Enquête Générations et Genre (GGS) et construisons des modèles de régression logistique séparément pour cinq pays européens (Autriche, Bulgarie, France, Géorgie et Russie). Nous développons des modèles mesurant l'influence de la religiosité, les attitudes de genre et la répartition des tâches ménagères selon l'intention d'avoir un (autre) enfant et la réalisation positive de ces intentions (plan d'avoir un enfant) et négative (plan de ne pas avoir un enfant). Nos résultats suggèrent que, quel que soit le contexte du pays, la religiosité et les rôles de genre semblent avoir un effet indépendant sur les intentions en matière de fécondité et leur réalisation.