Adult attachment and declining birthrates.
Attachment scores for 658 young adults living in the U.S.A. were obtained using the Experiences in Close Relationships scale. The participants came from a subsample of the RELATE data set, who had also filled out the adult attachment measure. Those young adults living in Utah County, Utah, an area of the country with a higher than normal birthrate (88% members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), also had higher than average adult attachment scores. While the methodology was not sufficient to assess causal direction nor eliminate the possibility of unidentified influences, an undiscussed psychological factor, adult attachment, may play a role in the numerical declines observed among nonimmigrant communities in the USA and Europe.
Draper
Thomas W
TW
School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA. draper@byu.edu
Holman
Thomas B
TB
White
Whitney
W
Grandy
Shannon
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000208:ethnology / Q000639:trends*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D012067:Religion; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology