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New Article in “Advances in Life Course Research” • 27.07.2020Does the Perception of Inability to Procreate Change over Time?
A current paper gives a new perspective on the inability to procreate over the life course. It explores the extent to which women and men perceive themselves as inable to procreate, how stable this perception is over time and which factors determine changes in self-perception. As the age at first childbirth increases, so does the risk of infertility. Consequently, more and more couples choose to make use of reproductive medicine. Despite the increasing importance of this topic for fertility analyses, there have so far been only very limited surveys on the subject.
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This longitudinal study shows that women and men who ever perceive inability to procreate often change their perception. It examines the role of changing living conditions and structural factors in this process. In general, infertility is not the same as sterility and therefore is not a permanent condition. This should apply in particular to one’s own subjective perception of procreative capacity at childbearing age. Nevertheless, fertility researchers sometimes regard this indicator as stable.
Limited ‘fertile window’ for women
By using seven waves of the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) survey, it is shown that on average one in twenty of the respondents of reproductive age perceives an inability to procreate once. The probability increases significantly with increasing age, with a greater increase for women.
Self-perception as being infertile is changing
It also becomes clear how precarious the self-perceptions are: On average, 39 percent of women and 48 percent of men change their perceptions from (rather) infertile to (rather) fertile within one year. It is quite possible that repeated changes occur. “This suggests that fertility problems should be considered as a time varying phenomenon in fertility analyses. By looking at the individuals who suffer from the inability to procreate, it is possible to better understand changes in fertility intentions, contraceptive behaviour or the (non-)realisation of childbearing preferences,” says the study’s first author, Dr. Jasmin Passet-Wittig.
Perception of inability to procreate increases with age
In order to better understand the changes in the perception of the inability to procreate, further analyses were performed. They show that the probability of perceiving a fertility problem increases with age. In general, self-perception is also significantly related to the perception of fertility problems on the side of the spouse. If no contraception is used, the risk of perceiving oneself as infertile is increased. Furthermore, self-perception differs depending on the number of children, education, migration background and religious beliefs.
Passet-Wittig, Jasmin; Bujard, Martin; McQuillan, Julia; Greil, Arthur L. (2020): Is perception of inability to procreate a temporal phenomenon? A longitudinal exploration of changes and determinants among women and men of reproductive age in Germany. Advances in Life Course Research (online)