An implicit ambivalence-indifference dimension of childbearing desires in the National Survey of Family Growth

Miller, Warren B.; Jones, Jo; Pasta, David J.

doi:10.4054/demres.2016.34.7

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This is because the ambivalent and indifferent categories represent the two poles of a dimension that our theoretical framework posits is orthogonal, or largely so, to the antinatal/pronatal dimension. Thus not only do we not know the proper ordering of the ambivalence and indifference categories with respect to the two poles, but it is not clear that these two categories are properly located on the antinatal/pronatal dimension at all (see Miller et al, 2016 on this last point). It may turn out that subsequent research will show that the arrangement of the five quadrant variables we use in Figure 3 and subsequent figures is an appropriate ordinal variable for some purposes, but for the present we cannot make that assumption and future research may well show otherwise.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence

2016

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We explore whether young women’s perceptions of their sexual partners’ childbearing desires contribute to their risk of pregnancy. We use weekly journal data collected from 787 women to measure their childbearing desires and their perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires. We then conduct hazard modelling to predict pregnancy risk with variables based on interactions between the women’s desires and their perceived partners’ desires. Models based on perceived partners’ desires perform better than one based on women’s desires alone. The best model contains three significant predictors: one confirms the importance of pronatal, ambivalent, and indifferent desires for pregnancy risk; one indicates that the perceived partners’ antinatal desires reduce the women’s pregnancy risk; and one suggests that women who both perceive their partners accurately and are in agreement with them have a lower pregnancy risk. The results indicate that perceived partner data can improve prediction and enhance our understanding of pregnancy risk.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence

2016

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“…Additionally, mid-point responses may also reflect social desirability bias [48]. While it is encouraging that most participants did not report more explicitly negative attitudes, that over one-third of participants neither agreed nor disagreed with every scale item may also be indicative of a general ambivalence toward bisexual men and women within the general population [49]. This may be reflective of larger cultural shifts away from expressing explicitly negative or discriminatory attitudes toward minority groups, while implicit or unconscious biases may still operate [50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes toward Bisexual Men and Women among a Nationally Representative Probability Sample of Adults in the United States

et al. 2016

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As bisexual individuals in the United States (U.S.) face significant health disparities, researchers have posited that these differences may be fueled, at least in part, by negative attitudes, prejudice, stigma, and discrimination toward bisexual individuals from heterosexual and gay/lesbian individuals. Previous studies of individual and social attitudes toward bisexual men and women have been conducted almost exclusively with convenience samples, with limited generalizability to the broader U.S. population. Our study provides an assessment of attitudes toward bisexual men and women among a nationally representative probability sample of heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and other-identified adults in the U.S. Data were collected from the 2015 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), via an online questionnaire with a probability sample of adults (18 years and over) from throughout the U.S. We included two modified 5-item versions of the Bisexualities: Indiana Attitudes Scale (BIAS), validated sub-scales that were developed to measure attitudes toward bisexual men and women. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gamma regression, and paired t-tests. Gender, sexual identity, age, race/ethnicity, income, and educational attainment were all significantly associated with participants' attitudes toward bisexual individuals. In terms of responses to individual scale items, participants were most likely to “neither agree nor disagree” with all attitudinal statements. Across sexual identities, self-identified other participants reported the most positive attitudes, while heterosexual male participants reported the least positive attitudes. As in previous research on convenience samples, we found a wide range of demographic characteristics were related with attitudes toward bisexual individuals in our nationally-representative study of heterosexual, gay/lesbian, and other-identified adults in the U.S. In particular, gender emerged as a significant characteristic; female participants’ attitudes were more positive than male participants’ attitudes, and all participants’ attitudes were generally more positive toward bisexual women than bisexual men. While recent population data suggest a marked shift in more positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women in the general population of the U.S., the largest proportions of participants in our study reported a relative lack of agreement or disagreement with all affective-evaluative statements in the BIAS scales. Findings document the relative lack of positive attitudes toward bisexual individuals among the general population of adults in the U.S. and highlight the need for developing intervention approaches to promote more positive attitudes toward bisexual individuals, targeted toward not only heterosexual but also gay/lesbian individuals and communities.

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“…However, childbearing motives are not clear‐cut because an individual's fertility desires and intentions do not always align (Iacovou & Tavares, ; Miller, ). Furthermore, many women experience ambivalence or indifference rather than a clear‐cut decision to have children (Miller, Jones, & Pasta, ). In a study of pregnant women's stories of becoming mothers, Sevón () argued that timing, ambivalence, and heterosexual relationship quality all informed pregnant women's choices to become mothers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facets of Agency in Stories of Transforming From Childless by Choice to Mother

Moore

2017

J of Marriage and Family

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Family scholars have explored in depth how and why some women choose to never have children. However, some childless‐by‐choice (also termed childfree or voluntarily childless) women—who have declared their desire and intention to never have children—ultimately become mothers because of changes in choice or circumstance. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with mothers who once articulated themselves as permanently childless by choice, this article presents three facets of agency in women's stories about childbearing transformations: accidental conception, ambiguous desire, and purposeful decision. Participant interviews indicated that each facet of agency was enabled and constrained by multiple individual, relational, and cultural considerations, including self‐described biological urges, partners' childbearing desires and intentions, and cultural stigma against abortion. Pathways from childless by choice to mother often encompass multiple facets of agency and include movements in and out of various fertility desires and intentions before conceiving.

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An implicit ambivalence-indifference dimension of childbearing desires in the National Survey of Family Growth

Cited by 15 publications

References 38 publications

Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence

Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence

Attitudes toward Bisexual Men and Women among a Nationally Representative Probability Sample of Adults in the United States

Facets of Agency in Stories of Transforming From Childless by Choice to Mother

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