Between Existential Fulfilment and Economic Constraints: Unpacking the Childbearing Decision-Making Process

Edith E. Gray , Australian National University
Anna Reimondos, Australian National University
Nicholas Biddle, Australian National University
Ann Evans, Australian National University

The decision to have a first child, or to grow one’s family, is one of the most important life decisions an individual can make. With fertility rates again trending downwards in many countries, it is worth revisiting the literature on childbearing decisions. The perceived benefits of having children include emotional or existential aspects such as having someone to love or providing purpose to life. Cost considerations tend to pertain to direct financial costs of raising children as well as potential impacts on career trajectory and personal time. Recently, research on risk and uncertainty has also gained momentum, and is a leading explanation for declines in childbearing. The paper advances this research, by including the extent to which individual uncertainty about global pressures is related to these childbearing considerations. The paper examines data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey and the ANU Poll survey conducted in August 2023. For each of eleven separate considerations, which span from economic to existential, we investigate differences in how people rate the importance of that factor in their childbearing decision making according to various socio-demographic factors. We find significant differences in the considerations that people rate as important based on their parity, gender, socio-economic status, and the extent to which they want children in the future. The paper also finds that global uncertainties play a lesser role in explaining childbearing decisions than factors that have a direct impact on the individual.

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 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course