Uncertain, changing and situated fertility intentions: A qualitative analysis

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.