Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral Control as Predictors of Fertility Intentions

Dimiter Philipov, Vienna Institute of Demography

We study the importance of proximate determinants of fertility intentions with the purpose to understand deeper the childbearing decision-making process. We focus on parity-specific and time-specific intentions (i.e. the intention to have a child or an additional child within the next two years) and on how they depend on 1) attitudes towards childbearing; 2) perceived normative pressure by relevant others; 3) perceived behavioral control. We use data from a survey held in 2002 in Bulgaria. Information is consistently collected within a framework based in the theory of planned behavior. Our findings show that attitudes and norms have an effect on childbearing intentions for first and second birth, while perceived behavioral control has an effect only on the transition to second birth. We finally argue for the importance of including questions related to these approaches in standard demographic surveys.