P-546 When do people start pursuing parenthood? A longitudinal study examining the trajectory of parenthood planning and achievement in a sample of initially childless people

Study question
What is the association between perceptions of non-parenthood goal completion (e.g., education, career) and fertility-related behaviour (trying, achievement) over time?

Summary answer
People start trying to achieve parenthood when they perceive themselves to have completed about 70% of other non-parenthood life goals

What is known already
Theory suggests people choose the best time to reproduce according to available resources. Completing other life goals like pursuing education, career, financial and relational endpoints have been implicated in decisions about when to start trying to achieve parenthood. Focusing on timing aligns with life-span and evolutionary theories. However, with parenthood postponement continuing to increase, identifying the threshold at which individuals perceive having sufficiently achieved non-parenthood goals to start pursuing parenthood would be useful to inform future development of parenthood planning interventions. We aimed to explore parenthood timing testing longitudinal associations between perceptions of non-parenthood goal achievement and fertility-related behaviour.

Study design, size, duration
Participants were recruited from a public university in a large urban centre in 2011 (T1, N = 887), with follow-up of who left email addresses in 2014 (T2, n = 177) and 2016 (T3, n = 101), and a fourth wave is underway. Eligibility criteria at T1 were being 18-49 years, childless, not currently pregnant (or have a pregnant partner) and not currently trying but intending to have a child in the future.

Participants/materials, setting, methods
Online survey (T1-T3) reporting on socio-demographics (e.g., age, education) and perceived level of achievement (0-100%) of parenthood pre-conditions (i.e., education, career, finance, relationship) with “…100% means that you have reached the level you feel is appropriate for starting a family. 0% means that you have not yet made any progress. A score in between reflects whatever progress has been made…” and fertility-related behaviour (trying, pregnant, birth, adoption). Logistic regression predicting pursuit of parenthood.

Main results and the role of chance
A total of 91 participants (11 men and 80 women) had complete data for the variables included in the analysis (non-parenthood goal completion, fertility-related behaviour) at T1-T3. At T1, socio-demographics were: average age 24.6 years (SD = 4.9), 72(80.0%) partnered, 70(76.9%) with university education and 35(38.5%) employed. By T3, all participants had achieved their university education, and most were employed (n = 82, 90.1%) and had a partner (n = 76, 83.5%). At T1, the average perception of non-parenthood goal completion was 48.5% (SD=25.0) and at T2, 70.4% (SD = 18.8) with 16(17.6%) trying, pregnant, or having had a child. At T3, non-parenthood goal completion was 78.8% (SD=18.2), with 32(35.2%) trying, pregnant, or having had a child. At T3, perceived goal achievement according to each parenthood pre-condition was: 91.8% (SD=16.1) on finishing education, 82.0% (SD=33.3) on being in a stable relationship, 74.2% (SD=26.5) on being in a good job or stable career, and 66.7% (SD=27.3) on having financial security. Logistic regression showed higher levels of non-parental goal attainment (p<.01), older age (p<.001) and time (p<.01) to be independently predictive of fertility-related behaviour, the turning point for starting on parenthood goals to be 70% non-parenthood goal achievement.

Limitations, reasons for caution
Self-selected university sample, with a majority female sample and high attrition over time. University samples are known to pursue higher levels of education, career and financial security than the general population. High attrition in the sample due to people leaving the academic centre.

Wider implications of the findings
Results support theory that reproductive timing is linked to perceptions of education, relationship, career and financial goal achievement regardless of the actual completion of these goals. Understanding how these perceptions trigger fertility-related behaviour and whether these are modifiable could be important to support people planning and realising their parenthood intentions.

Trial registration number
No