The impact of family functioning on fertility intentions among university students: a study based on latent profile analysis

Abstract

Background: Persistent low fertility in China poses critical socioeconomic challenges. Family functioning has been implicated in reproductive decisionmaking, yet its heterogeneity remain underexplored, particularly among young adults. This study employs Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify high and lowfunctioning family profiles among Chinese university students and their parents, and to quantify their associations with marriageandchildbearing attitudes and explicit fertility intentions.

Methods: In a crosssectional survey of 484 student-parent pairs from two northwest Chinese universities, we administered a 68item questionnaire incorporating the 30item Chinese Family Assessment Device and standardized measures of fertility intentions and marriageandchildbearing views. LPA classified families into two profiles. Multinomial logistic regression (Models 1-3) tested the effect of family functioning on students' ideal number of children ("0," "1," "≥ 2," vs. "indifferent"), sequentially adjusting for student and parental sociodemographic covariates.

Results: LPA yielded two profiles: lowfunctining (57.0%) and highfunctoning (43.0%) families. In Model 1, lowfunctioning membership increased the odds of intending 0 children (R = 2.90, 95% CI 1.53-5.49, p < 0.01), 1 child (OR = 2.65, 1.51-4.63, p < 0.01), and ≥ 2 children (OR = 3.54, 2.28-5.49, p < 0.001) versus remaining indifferent. Adjusting for student factors (Model 2) attenuated the zerochild effect (p = 0.21) but retained significant associations for 1 child (OR = 2.22, 1.20-4.12, p < 0.05) and ≥ 2 children (OR = 3.08, 1.77-5.35, p < 0.001). In the fully adjusted model (Model 3), lowfunctioning status remained a predictor only of ≥ 2 children (OR = 2.57, 1.40-4.73, p < 0.01). Older parental age independently predicted zerochild intentions (OR = 1.20, 1.08-1.33, p < 0.001), while parental occupation moderated highintention outcomes.

Conclusions: Low family functioning exerts a robust influence on both low and high fertility intentions, although its effect on zerochild plans is largely explained by student and parental characteristics. By uncovering multidimensional familyfunctioning profiles and their differential impacts, this study advances theoretical models of intergenerational value transmission and informs targeted familyeducation and policy interventions aimed at mitigating China's lowfertility trajectory.

Keywords: Family functioning; Fertility intentions; Generational differences; Latent profile analysis (LPA); University students.

Fig. 1

Global fertility trends

Fig. 2

Latent profiles based on the 30 items of the FAD