How attitudes, perceived norms and perceived control influence couples’ fertility decision making

The work described here builds a social psychological layer on Rosina and Testa’s (2009) primarily economic analysis of agreement on fertility intentions among childless couples in Italy. The social psychological layer includes attitudes, perceived normative influences (subjective norms) and perceived behavioural control, the three cognitions that the TPB proposes influence the formation of intentions. Data are drawn from national household surveys in Bulgaria and Italy and we seek to explain differences between couples based on the joint intentions of the man and woman to have a second child in the near term (three years in Italy and two years in Bulgaria). While we briefly consider alternative models we concentrate on agreement in the couple’s intentions. Agreement on fertility intentions is a suitable way to characterise couples’ fertility decisions when the goal is to increase fertility rates because couples who disagree about childbearing are less likely to have a child than couples who agree to have a child.