The Flexibility of Fertility Preferences in a Context of Uncertainty

Trinitapoli, Jenny; Yeatman, Sara

doi:10.1111/padr.12114

Cited by 94 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 84 publications

(117 reference statements)

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“…The concepts of the curtailment and postponement of childbearing also align with recent literature emphasizing the uncertain, ambivalent, contingent, flexible, and fluid nature of the fertility intentions of women in both contemporary countries and historical Europe (Agadjanian 2005;Fisher 2000;Johnson-Hanks 2004Ní Bhrolcháin and Beaujouan 2019;Towriss et al 2019;Trinitapoli and Yeatman 2018;Yeatman et al 2013). Limiters who have reached their desired family size might revisit their decision to stop childbearing in the (now rather uncommon) circumstance that one of their children dies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Pathways to Low Fertility: 50 Years of Limitation, Curtailment, and Postponement of Childbearing

Timæus

Moultrie

2020

Demography

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This study applies survival analysis to the birth histories from 317 national surveys to model pathways to low fertility in 83 less-developed countries between 1965 and 2014. It presents period measures of parity progression, the length of birth intervals and total fertility that have been standardized fully for age, parity, and interval duration. It also examines parity-specific trends in the proportion of women who want no more children. Outside sub-Saharan Africa, fertility transition was dominated by parityspecific family size limitation. As the transition progressed, women also began to postpone their next birth for lengthy periods in many countries. During the first half of the fertility transition in much of sub-Saharan Africa and in some other countries, however, women stopped childbearing without targeting particular family sizes. Moreover, birth intervals in sub-Saharan Africa have been lengthening since the onset of the transition. Birth control is not restricted to a dichotomy between limitation and spacing. Other reasons for curtailing childbearing and postponing having another birth also shape countries' pathways through fertility transition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Pathways to Low Fertility: 50 Years of Limitation, Curtailment, and Postponement of Childbearing

Timæus

Moultrie

2020

Demography

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“…In our definition of this variable, we must consider the significant minority of respondents who report that they do not know about their fertility intentions. Previous research has suggested that fertility intentions are flexible and dynamic, and that a response of “Don't know” has substantive meaning in and of itself (Morgan ; Trinitapoli and Yeatman ). Our interpretation of the do not know response is that it is less negative than intending no more, but less positive than intending more.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Housework, Gender Role Attitudes, and Couples' Fertility Intentions: Reconsidering Men's Roles in Gender Theories of Family Change

Okun¹,

Raz-Yurovich²

2018

Population & Development Rev

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“…Along with the other studies from Africa (Sennott and Yeatman, 2012;Sennott and Yeatman, 2018;Trinitapoli and Yeatman, 2018;Yeatman, Sennott and Culpepper, 2013), the results of this study suggest that, to better understand women's childbearing decisions and intentions in higherfertility contexts, it would be beneficial to take a less prescriptive perspective to the conceptual approach adopted. There are a multiplicity of factors which influence women's childbearing and it might be instructive to draw more deeply upon literature from lower-fertility settings which has succeeded in recognising this complexity (Bachrach and Morgan, 2013;Kuhnt and Trappe, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…A number of authors have made explicit connections between the fluidity of reproductive intentions and birth postponement. For example, Trinitapoli and Yeatman (2018) describe how their observations of flexible fertility intentions in Malawi speak to the central importance of postponement in fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa. In their words "flexibility helps make sense of an approach to fertility that is not based simply on age or parity, but is a strategic response to life's contingencies" (Trinitapoli and Yeatman, 2018: 100).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning a family in Nairobi’s informal settlements: results of a qualitative study

et al. 2019

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Childbearing intentions among women in high-fertility contexts are usually classified into those wanting to have a baby, those wanting to ‘space’ a birth and those wanting to ‘limit’ their family size. However, evidence from Africa increasingly suggests that women’s intentions are more complex than this classification suggests, and that there is fluidity in these intentions. This research explores women’s accounts of their childbearing intentions and decisions in order to examine how this fluidity plays out in a low-fertility context in urban Africa. Six focus group discussions were conducted in April and May 2012 with women of reproductive age in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants were recruited using random and purposive sampling techniques. The focus group discussions had an average of seven participants each. Data were coded thematically and analysed using Nvivo software. The analysis explored the factors that women consider to be influential for childbearing and found that the health of the mother and child, costs of raising a child and relationships were commonly reported to be important. Evidence of intentions to space births and limit family size was found. However, the data also showed that there is fluidity in women’s family planning intentions, driven by changes in relationships or household finances, which often result in a desire to avoid pregnancy in the present moment. The fluidity observed in women’s childbearing intentions cannot be accounted for by the concepts of either ‘spacing’ or ‘limitation’ but is best explained by the concept of ‘postponement’. The research reveals the need for family planning clinics to provide a full method mix, as well as high-quality counselling, to enable women to choose a method that best suits their needs.

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The Flexibility of Fertility Preferences in a Context of Uncertainty

Cited by 94 publications

References 84 publications

Pathways to Low Fertility: 50 Years of Limitation, Curtailment, and Postponement of Childbearing

Pathways to Low Fertility: 50 Years of Limitation, Curtailment, and Postponement of Childbearing

Housework, Gender Role Attitudes, and Couples' Fertility Intentions: Reconsidering Men's Roles in Gender Theories of Family Change

Planning a family in Nairobi’s informal settlements: results of a qualitative study

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