Familial, Situational, and Attitudinal Determinants of Third-Birth Intentions and Their Uncertainty

• Main Authors: Ruokolainen Anne, Notkola Irma-Leena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Population Research Institute of Väestöliitto 2002-01-01
• Series: Finnish Yearbook of Population Research
• Online Access: https://journal.fi/fypr/article/view/44976
• ISSN: 1796-6183; 1796-6191

For this study, we used data from the Finnish Womans Life Course and Family Formation Survey to study the decision to have or not to have a third child among women who had two children. Our results show that almost one half of the respondents in our sample (n=636) desired to have three or more children, but only 19 per cent intended to have a third birth, while 30 per cent were uncertain about their intentions. We also found that a considerable proportion of the respondents had decided to stop childbearing at a lower parity than desired. To study what determines womens decision to have a third child we estimated three logistic regression models of the determinants of third-birth intentions and their uncertainty, separately for all women at parity two and for those who desired to have three or more children. The results indicate that the factors associated with the intention to cease childbearing differ from those associated with the certainty of intention. Familial and attitudinal factors, such as the quality of partnership, genders of the existing children, and family values, were independently associated with womens intentions to continue childbearing after two children or stop at parity two. However, social and economic constraints made women hesitate with regard to their future fertility plans.