Dismissed and newly planned babies during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study of the motivations behind changes in fertility plans and behaviors in Italy

Francesca Luppi, Bruno Arpino and Alessandro Rosina
Additional contact information
Alessandro Rosina: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

No qpwba, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: While early evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on births has suggested a depressive effect on fertility intentions and behaviours, not all individuals have equally suffered the indirect consequences of the pandemic, and especially those related with the increased uncertainty brought by the economic recession. This study accounts for the heterogeneous consequences of the pandemic on fertility plans and behaviours, by focusing on the motivations for suspended pre-Covid fertility plans and on those for new fertility plans and conceptions that arose during the pandemic. The reasons for the latter are almost unexplored. To do that, we rely on unique data collected with a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted in April/May 2021 and October/November 2021 (2000 respondents each) on a quota sample of young Italians (aged 18 to 34). After exploring the main motivations for changing pre-COVID fertility plans or for intending to conceive a previously unplanned child during the pandemic, we estimate a set of multinomial and logit models to examine some correlates of fertility plans and behaviours. Finally, by interpreting these results in light of the reported motivations, we provide a more qualitative analysis that allows for a deeper interpretation of the reasons behind the patterns of associations. Potentially complex and non-unidirectional mechanisms, only partially related with reducing financial and occupational vulnerability, emerge as relevant for supporting fertility during the pandemic.

Date: 2022-05-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/6278dfaa3d4d253032c23147/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:qpwba

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/qpwba

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().