relation: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/4402/
title: Exploring fertility intentions after the transition to parenthood
creator: Zubeldia Razquin, Marije
description: For my Master’s thesis, I looked into women’s fertility intentions in the form of the intended number of children. Central to this thesis is the (possible) effect of the transition to parenthood on the intended number of children. Research into the transition to parenthood states that this is an important life event that shapes people’s lives. It particularly changes household dynamics. This thesis investigates the extent to which women’s intended number of children is affected by becoming a first-time parent and how the division of household labour affects these changes across the transition to parenthood. Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), it is theorised that the intended number of children of women can change due to important life events. Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel study, the same women are analysed at different time points (2003-2011). The focus is on those women who did not have children at the beginning of the study, to capture the possible transition to parenthood. To model the possible change in the intended number of children, a multinominal logistic regression analysis is used to predict whether the number decreases, increases or stays the same based on several individual and partner characteristics. The results from the model show that overall, the highest likelihood for women is to keep the intended number of children constant over the year. Moreover, becoming a first-time mother is negatively associated with the likelihood of decreasing the intended number of children, in contrast to expectations. Furthermore, no evidence was found for a mediation effect of the household division of labour. Overall, the findings do not support the hypotheses that were derived from the literature. Despite the limitations of this study, this spikes interest for further research to look further into these fertility dynamics.
date: 2023
type: Thesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: text
language: en
identifier: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/4402/1/MasterThesis_MarijeZubeldia_.pdf
identifier:   Zubeldia Razquin, Marije  (2023) Exploring fertility intentions after the transition to parenthood.  Master thesis.