Melbourne School of Population and Global Health - Theses
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ItemTo have or not to have?: Australian women's childbearing desires, outcomes and expectations( 2010)Although Australia’s fertility rate has recently increased it has been below replacement level since the mid 1970s. There are widespread perceptions that Australia’s fertility rate is too low mainly due to concerns regarding the social and economic implications of low fertility for Australia’s future prosperity. Yet the factors which contribute to Australian women’s childbearing outcomes are not fully understood, and it is not well known whether the low fertility rate is a deliberate or unintended consequence of women’s childbearing behaviour. There have been several investigations into the factors which are salient in Australian women’s childbearing outcomes. A limited number of individual explanatory factors have been identified including women’s level of education, labour force participation, marital status and age. Existing theoretical explanations of fertility decision-making tend to view childbearing as a rational, voluntary process and focus on the ‘costs’ to women of having children. Although this may help explain why women do not have children, it contributes very little to understanding why women do have children. The aims of this study were: to explore the relative importance of a range of psychosocial factors (including attitudes toward women and motherhood, the influence of women’s partners’ fertility preferences and behaviours, women’s education debts, and housing conditions) and women’s health status to women’s childbearing outcomes; to determine any differences in the contributory factors and their relative importance by parity; and to identify women’s childbearing desires and expectations. The study used a cross-sectional survey design in a population based sample of Australian women currently of childbearing age. The sample was drawn from women aged 30-34 years living in Victoria, one Australian state, in 2005 randomly selected from the Australian Electoral Roll by the Australian Electoral Commission. Participation involved the completion of a study specific anonymous self administered postal questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed participants’ sociodemographic characteristics; attitudes toward women and motherhood; previous childbearing experiences, current and future childbearing desires, and future childbearing expectations; the importance of a variety of psychosocial and health factors in childbearing outcomes; and past and present health status. 569 women (47%) completed and returned questionnaires, which is high for an unsolicited postal survey. The participants were broadly representative of women of the same age in the general population. Most participants wanted children and were mothers, and voluntary childlessness was very uncommon. Multiple, complex and interrelated biological, psychological and social factors such as adverse health conditions, attitudes toward women and motherhood, an interest in being a mother, lack of a partner, education debts and housing affordability were associated with women’s childbearing outcomes. The factors and their relative importance varied by parity. Many of the reasons participants identified as salient to their childbearing outcomes were actually obstacles or constraints which prevented them from achieving their childbearing desires. The results indicate that women often have fewer children than they actually desire and many would have (more) children if their circumstances were different. It appears that it is not the ‘costs’ of children that are important in women’s childbearing outcomes but the necessity for women’s circumstances to be optimal before they will consider having (more) children. An innovative conceptual framework highlighting the importance of women’s circumstances in their childbearing behaviour was developed as a result of the findings. The results challenge prevailing views that women’s childbearing outcomes are mostly voluntary, and based mainly on financial or career considerations. The findings have implications for theoretical explanations of fertility decision-making, and policies which aim to address the fertility rate and women’s childbearing behaviour suggesting that such policies need to address the barriers women face in family formation.