Intention to have children of young couples in Ho Chi Minh City – the case study in Thu Duc City and Binh Chanh District

Abstract

The article aims to investigate the intention to have children in the next 3 years of young couples in Ho Chi Minh City along with the factors affecting their intention to have children. The research orientation is the theory of planned behavior applying in the fertility intention by Ajzen I and Klobas J. The sample size includes 120 young couples (60 men and 60 women), who have no children and have one child in Thu Duc City (directly under Ho Chi Minh City) and Binh Chanh District. The information collection tools are structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The analytical methods used in this study are the descriptive statistics, the bivariate correlation analysis, and the binary logistic regression. The research findings show that young couples agree with the norm of having more children in the future, have a positive attitude towards having children, but their ability to control having children is limited. Majority of young couples want to delay childbirth and do not intend to have children in the next 3 years. Attitudes towards having children and professional work are the strongest predictors of childbearing. Based on the research findings, the article proposes the functional agencies need to issue policies to create favorable conditions for young couples to have children.