You are in an archived section of the AIFS website. Archived publications may be of interest for historical reasons. Because of their age, they may not reflect current research data or AIFS' current research methodologies.
Children? No children? Effects of changing personal relationships on decisions about having children
Lixia Qu, Ruth Weston and Christine KilmartinAbstract
The current decline in family size in Australia has sparked considerable debate. Having children is usually seen as a matter of choice, but external circumstances may place constraints on this choice. What is the impact of relationship status on men's and women's intentions about whether or not to have children? And how do changes in relationship status affect those intentions? Based on data from the Australian Family Formation Project, the analysis in this paper focuses on intentions and outcomes regarding having children, covering nearly a decade. Three issues are examined: the prevalence of intentions to have children or remain childless among men and women when they were first contacted (1981); whether those who did not intend to have children were less likely to change their minds than those who intended to have children; and the extent to which relationship status and changes in relationship status over the next ten years influenced intentions and outcomes.
The current decline in family size in Australia has sparked considerable debate. Having children is usually seen as a matter of choice, but external circumstances may place constraints on this choice. What is the impact of relationship status on men's and women's intentions about whether or not to have children? And how do changes in relationship status affect those intentions? Based on data from the Australian Family Formation Project, the analysis in this paper focuses on intentions and outcomes regarding having children, covering nearly a decade. Three issues are examined: the prevalence of intentions to have children or remain childless among men and women when they were first contacted (1981); whether those who did not intend to have children were less likely to change their minds than those who intended to have children; and the extent to which relationship status and changes in relationship status over the next ten years influenced intentions and outcomes.
Download article
In this issue
Features
- Development of civic mindedness in Australian adolescents: Australian Temperament Project
- Social capital and social security: Lessons from research
- Children? No children? Effects of changing personal relationships on decisions about having children
- Child support and parent-child contact
- Low income parents paying income support: Evaluation of the introduction of a $260 minimum child support assessment
- Single mum or single dad?: Effects of parent residency arrangements on primary school-aged children
- Parental involvement of unwed non-resident fathers
- Multiple risk exposure and likelihood of welfare receipt: Implications for social policy and human capital
- Valuing young lives: National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy and its evaluation
- New Zealand property rights legislation: A changing landscape
- Stronger Families and Communities Strategy
Regulars
- Director's report
- Letters: Making a meal of divorce
- Families in the news
- CommunityLink initiative
- AIFS Director at Asia and Pacific Region conference
- Australian Temperament Project book launch
- Family law update: New legislative developments
- Marriage celebrant reform
- Family database: Bibliography on child support
- Book notes