Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:34:35.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

FROM MOTIVES THROUGH DESIRES TO INTENTIONS: INVESTIGATING THE REPRODUCTIVE CHOICES OF CHILDLESS MEN AND WOMEN IN POLAND

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

Monika Mynarska*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland
Jolanta Rytel
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Summary

This 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.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basten, S. (2009) Voluntary childlessness and being childfree. The Future of Human Reproduction Working Paper No. 5. URL: http://www.spi.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/PDF/Childlessness_-_Number_5.pdf.Google Scholar
Beaujean, A. A. (2014) Latent Variable Modeling Using R: A Step by Step Guide. Routledge/ Taylor and Francis, New York.Google Scholar
Berrington, A. (2004) Perpetual postponers? Women’s, men’s and couple’s fertility intentions and subsequent fertility behaviour. Population Trends 117, 919.Google Scholar
Berrington, A. (2017) Childlessness in the UK. In Kreyenfeld, M. & Konietzka, D. (eds) Childlessness in Europe: Contexts, Causes, and Consequences. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 5776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callan, V. J. (1984) Voluntary childlessness: early articulator and postponing couples. Journal of Biosocial Science 16(4), 501509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carmichael, G. & Whittaker, A. (2007) Choice and circumstance: qualitative insights into contemporary childlessness in Australia. European Journal of Population 23(2), 111143.Google Scholar
Central Statistical Office (2015) Demographic Yearbook of Poland. Central Statistical Office, Warsaw.Google Scholar
Finney, S. J. & DiStefano, C. (2013) Nonnormal and categorical data in structural equation modeling. In Hancock, G. R. & Mueller, R. O. (eds) Structural Equation Modeling: A Second Course (2nd edition). Information Age Publishing Inc., Charlotte, NC, pp. 439492.Google Scholar
Fornell, C. & Larcker, D. F. (1981) Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18(1), 3950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, R. (1999) Voluntary childlessness in the United Kingdom. Reproductive Health Matters 7(13), 4353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, R. (2000) When no means no: disbelief, disregard and deviance as discourses of voluntary childlessness. Women’s Studies International Forum 23(2), 223234.Google Scholar
Houseknecht, S. K. (1978) Voluntary childlessness. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 1(3), 379402.Google Scholar
Jagannathan, R. (2006) Economic crisis and women’s childbearing motivations: the induced abortion response of women on public assistance. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 6(1), 5265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, M. (2009) Women’s voluntary childlessness: a radical rejection of motherhood? WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 37(2), 157172.Google Scholar
Kennedy, D. P. (2005) Scale adaptation and ethnography. Field Methods 17(4), 412431.Google Scholar
Koropeckyj-Cox, T. (2002) Beyond parental status: psychological well-being in middle and old age. Journal of Marriage and Family 64(4), 957971.Google Scholar
Kreyenfeld, M. & Konietzka, D. (2017) Analyzing childlessness. In Kreyenfeld, M. & Konietzka, D. (eds) Childlessness in Europe: Contexts, Causes, and Consequences. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 315.Google Scholar
Letherby, G. (2002) Childless and bereft?: stereotypes and realities in relation to ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ childlessness and womanhood. Sociological Inquiry 72(1), 720.Google Scholar
McAllister, F. & Clarke, L. (2000) Voluntary childlessness: trends and implications. In Bentley, G. R. & Mascie-Taylor, C. G. N. (eds) Infertility in the Modern World: Present and Future Prospects. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 189237.Google Scholar
Malhotra, N. K. & Dash, S. (2011) Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation. Pearson Publishing, London.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. (1981) The Personal Meanings of Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness. Report N01-Hd-82853. Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. (1983) Chance, choice, and the future of reproduction. American Psychologist 38(11), 11981205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, W. B. (1994) Childbearing motivations, desires, and intentions: a theoretical framework. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs 120(2), 223258.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. (1995) Childbearing motivation and its measurement. Journal of Biosocial Science 27(4), 473487.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. (2011a) Comparing the TPB and the T-D-I-B framework. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 9, 1929.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. (2011b) Differences between fertility desires and intentions: implications for theory, research and policy. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 9, 7598.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B., Bard, D. E., Pasta, D. J. & Rodgers, J. L. (2010) Biodemographic modeling of the links between fertility motivation and fertility outcomes in the NLSY79. Demography 47(2), 393414.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B., Millstein, S. G. & Pasta, D. J. (2008) The measurement of childbearing motivation in couples considering the use of assisted reproductive technology. Biodemography and Social Biology 54(1), 832.Google Scholar
Miller, W. B. & Pasta, D. J. (1993) Motivational and nonmotivational determinants of child-number desires. Population and Environment 15(2), 113138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monach, J. H. (1993) Childless, No Choice: The Experience of Involuntary Childlessness. Routledge, London, New York.Google Scholar
Morgan, S. P. & King, R. (2001) Why have children in the 21st century? Biological predisposition, social coercion, rational choice. European Journal of Population 17(1), 320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, R. O. & Hancock, G. R. (2008) Best practices in structural equation modeling. In Osbourne, J. W. (ed.) Best Practices in Quantitative Methods. Sage Publishing, Thousand Oaks, CA. pp. 488508.Google Scholar
Mynarska, M. (2009) Individual Fertility Choices in Poland. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University Publishing, Warsaw.Google Scholar
Mynarska, M. & Rytel, J. (2014) Pomiar motywacji do posiadania dzieci wśród osób bezdzietnych. Polska adaptacja Kwestionariusza Motywów Rodzicielskich. [Measuring childbearing motivation of childless individuals. Polish adaptation of the Childbearing Questionnaire.] Polskie Forum Psychologiczne 19(4), 522543.Google Scholar
Park, K. (2005) Choosing childlessness: Weber’s typology of action and motives of the voluntarily childless. Sociological Inquiry 75(3), 372402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pezeshki, M. Z., Zeighami, B. & Miller, W. B. (2005) Measuring the childbearing motivation of couples referred to the Shiraz Health Center for premarital examination. Journal of Biosocial Science 37(1), 3753.Google Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012) lavaan: an R package for Structural Equation Modeling. Journal of Statistical Software 48(2), 136.Google Scholar
Rowland, D. T. (2007) Historical trends in childlessness. Journal of Family Issues 28(10), 13111337.Google Scholar
Schweizer, K. (2010) Some guidelines concerning the modeling of traits and abilities in test construction. European Journal of Psychological Assessment 26(1), 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sina, M., ter Meulen, R. & Carrasco de Paula, I. (2010) Human infertility: is medical treatment enough? A cross-sectional study of a sample of Italian couples. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology 31(3), 158167.Google Scholar
Sobotka, T. (2017) Childlessness in Europe: reconstructing long-term trends among women born in 1900–1972. In Kreyenfeld, M. & Konietzka, D. (eds) Childlessness in Europe: Contexts, Causes, and Consequences. Springer International Publishing, Cham. pp. 1753.Google Scholar
Somers, M. D. (1993) A comparison of voluntarily childfree adults and parents. Journal of Marriage and Family 55(3), 643650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanturri, M. L. & Mencarini, L. (2008) Childless or childfree? Paths to voluntary childlessness in Italy. Population and Development Review 34(1), 5177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Egeren, L. A. (2003) Prebirth predictors of coparenting experiences in early infancy. Infant Mental Health Journal 24(3), 278295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veevers, J. E. (1980) Childless by Choice. Butterworth, Toronto.Google Scholar