The Development of Fertility Intentions in Partnerships prior to Parenthood

It is known that people who strongly intend to have their first child become parents sooner. How these strong intentions came about, however, remains unclear. Based on the German family panel Pairfam, the project examines the dynamics of fertility intentions among women and men in partnerships before their first child is born. The project will make three contributions. First, it will test whether the strong fertility intentions of partnered women and men in the last year before they become parents are in fact due to them having had strong intentions already before they entered a relationship. Second, it will investigate to what extent the intention to have a first child grows over the years prior to parenthood and whether this differs between women and men. Third, the project will examine whether partners influence each other’s fertility intentions and identify which partner’s intention is more important for the decision to become a parent. Taken together, these contributions will improve our understanding of the dynamics in decision-making about parenthood.