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Background <p>Decreasing population growth (PG) and aging have been appeared as major national problems in Iran. In this study, reluctance to childbearing and determinants, as an index of PG was investigated to guide policymakers for setting appropriate strategies and interventions. This research addresses childbearing reluctance and its personal, cultural and socio-economic determinants among small families, which represent 45–50% of Iranian households.</p> Methods <p>Subjects who did not have any children or had only one child been selected through a cross-sectional study using systematic random sampling from the list of marriage public counselling centers of Fars province, Iran in 2024. They filled out a valid online questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, personal (22 items), socio-cultural (10 items), and economic (6 items) factors. Univariable and binary logistic regression were performed using SPSS software Version 25.</p> Results <p>280 subjects from 29 counties of Fars province included 137(48.9%) women and 143(51.1%) men with mean of age 35 ± 5.7-year-old participated in this survey. 145(51.8%) did not have any child, while 135(48.2%) had only one child. Only 98(35%) had a high tendency to have more than one child. Regarding commonest reasons, among personal factors, 80.4% believed that future and children’s quality of life is more important than their numbers. Among socio-cultural factors, 71.1% and of economic factors, 76.4% believed that they did not have any confidence or hope for the improvement of these situations in the country. Univariable analysis showed that, reluctance to childbearing was related to living place, personal, socio-cultural and economic factors (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Multivariable analysis showed that co-agreement with spouse about childbearing (OR:4.1), socio-cultural factors (OR:1.7), personal factors (OR:1.4) and economic factors (OR:1.2) were the main determinants of reluctance to childbearing, respectively.</p> Conclusions <p>Two-thirds of the marrieds do not have a high desire for childbearing, and several factors were revealed to be related to this issue. Therefore, strategies to cover both partners, improving socioeconomic conditions and establishment of counselling centers to address personal and cultural challenges for expanding family sizes and increasing fertility rate are needed.</p>

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Personal, cultural and socio-economic determinants of childbearing reluctance in small families: a field-based study from Iran

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月5日

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  • Behnam Honarvar,
  • Mohsen Bayati,
  • Maliheh Alimondegari,
  • Ahmad Kalateh Sadati,
  • Matin Bidares,
  • Fatemeh Rafiee,
  • Mohammad Jafar Pooreisa,
  • Hamid Maghami,
  • Fatemeh Jamali,
  • Fatemeh Bita,
  • Kamran Bagheri Lankarani

摘要

Background

Decreasing population growth (PG) and aging have been appeared as major national problems in Iran. In this study, reluctance to childbearing and determinants, as an index of PG was investigated to guide policymakers for setting appropriate strategies and interventions. This research addresses childbearing reluctance and its personal, cultural and socio-economic determinants among small families, which represent 45–50% of Iranian households.

Methods

Subjects who did not have any children or had only one child been selected through a cross-sectional study using systematic random sampling from the list of marriage public counselling centers of Fars province, Iran in 2024. They filled out a valid online questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, personal (22 items), socio-cultural (10 items), and economic (6 items) factors. Univariable and binary logistic regression were performed using SPSS software Version 25.

Results

280 subjects from 29 counties of Fars province included 137(48.9%) women and 143(51.1%) men with mean of age 35 ± 5.7-year-old participated in this survey. 145(51.8%) did not have any child, while 135(48.2%) had only one child. Only 98(35%) had a high tendency to have more than one child. Regarding commonest reasons, among personal factors, 80.4% believed that future and children’s quality of life is more important than their numbers. Among socio-cultural factors, 71.1% and of economic factors, 76.4% believed that they did not have any confidence or hope for the improvement of these situations in the country. Univariable analysis showed that, reluctance to childbearing was related to living place, personal, socio-cultural and economic factors (p < 0.05). Multivariable analysis showed that co-agreement with spouse about childbearing (OR:4.1), socio-cultural factors (OR:1.7), personal factors (OR:1.4) and economic factors (OR:1.2) were the main determinants of reluctance to childbearing, respectively.

Conclusions

Two-thirds of the marrieds do not have a high desire for childbearing, and several factors were revealed to be related to this issue. Therefore, strategies to cover both partners, improving socioeconomic conditions and establishment of counselling centers to address personal and cultural challenges for expanding family sizes and increasing fertility rate are needed.