The decision to become a mother is increasingly questioned and postponed, in some cases, leading to lower-than-desired fertility upon reaching the end of the reproductive period. Increasing income, female education, and female labor force participation reliably predicted lower fertility rates across countries over the late twentieth century. However, today, below-replacement fertility rates are observed in regions across the world, in high, middle, and low-income countries alike. Across industrialized countries, the relationship between income and female labor force participation is positive, such that countries with higher development and more women working also have more children per woman.

Moreover, scholars concede that current research must extend beyond more traditional material resource-centered models to examine the effects of other non-material factors shaping reproductive behaviors. As such, this research engages with a body of literature highlighting couple bargaining, gender equality, time costs and time intensity of parenting, religion and social norms, and peer effects as important determinants in the decision to have children in the current context. 

To measure the causal effect on fertility willingness of each factor in kind, the doctoral candidate developed and fielded an experimental survey instrument to over one thousand young Spanish women without children aged 25 to 36. At the same time, the survey included a closed-ended battery of questions harmonized with longitudinal secondary datasets to measure the effects of religion and attitudinal beliefs on fertility behaviors. 

Finally, the cross-sectional data harmonized with country-level registry data explored the association between workplace conditions, co-worker fertility, and actual fertility desires among the population of study. Taken together, this research aims to identify key determinants shaping women's willingness to bear children in a lowest-low fertitliy context. 

Director from thesis
 

Javier García Manglano
jgmanglano@unav.es