Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior.
Emotional influences on fertility behaviors are an understudied topic that may offer a clear explanation of why many couples choose to have children even when childbearing is not economically rational. With setting-specific measures of the husband-wife emotional bond appropriate for large-scale population research matched with data from a long-term panel study, we have the empirical tools to provide a test of the influence of emotional factors on contraceptive use to limit fertility. This article presents those tests. We use long-term, multilevel community and family panel data to demonstrate that the variance in levels of husband-wife emotional bond is significantly associated with their subsequent use of contraception to avert births. We discuss the wide-ranging implications of this intriguing new result.
University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106-1248, USA. baxinn@umich.edu.
William G
WG
Axinn
University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106-1248, USA.
Dirgha J
DJ
Ghimire
University of Southern California, 851 Downey Way, HSH 314 (Office 309), Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
Emily
E
Smith-Greenaway
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003267:Contraception / Q000523:psychology; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009390:Nepal; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Contraceptive use; Family change; Fertility limitation; Spousal emotions