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. 2017 Apr;54(2):437-458.
doi: 10.1007/s13524-017-0555-5.

Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior

William G Axinn  1 , Dirgha J Ghimire  2 , Emily Smith-Greenaway  3
Affiliations

Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior

William G Axinn et al. Demography. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Contraceptive use; Family change; Fertility limitation; Spousal emotions.

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