title: Ignorance could hurt: an assessment of fertility awareness, childbirth intentions and parenting attitudes among university students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An emerging pattern of increasing median age at first birth among women has been well documented in Western countries. A similar but less remarkable trend is being experienced in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a paucity of information in Sub-Saharan Africa about awareness of age-related fertility decline. The aim of this study was to assess the perception of fertility, childbirth intentions and parenting attitudes among university students.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of 231 female and 158 male students randomly selected university undergraduates in Nigeria using a self-reported questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The respondents overestimated the ages of slight (92.1%) and marked decline (89.4%) in female fertility. The chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex during ovulation was overestimated by 93.1% of the respondents. Over three-quarters of them overestimated the success rate of in-vitro fertilization. The sources of information regarding fertility issues were mainly school (40.1%), the media (20.6%) and family members (18.8%). About 98.7% of the childless respondents reported an intention to have children in the future. The mean number of children desired was 3.29±1.14. Females desire to have their first and last children earlier than males (p=0.000). The perceived potential obstacles to having the desired children were the pursuit of career aspirations (35.5%) and the pursuit of personal interests (20.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Misconceptions about fertility issues have grave implications for involuntary childlessness and secondary infertility. Comprehensive family planning education that will address the misconceptions about female fecundity and parenting issues are required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Benjamin Carson (Snr) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan, Nigeria, Phone: +234 703 856 9725.
authors.forename: Olumide
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abiodun
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Benjamin Carson (Snr) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan, Nigeria.|Benjamin Carson (Snr) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alausa
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Benjamin Carson (Snr) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan, Nigeria.|Benjamin Carson (Snr) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Olanrewaju
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Olasehinde
keywords: childbirth; fertility awareness; involuntary childlessness; parenting; university students