Premium
Wanted and Unwanted Pregnancies: A Fertility Decision‐Making Model
Author(s) -
Hass Paula H.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1974.tb01758.x
Subject(s) - fertility , pregnancy , family planning , psychology , set (abstract data type) , social psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , population , computer science , environmental health , research methodology , genetics , biology , programming language
Criticisms are offered of the measures of family‐size desires and unwanted pregnancies most often employed in U.S. fertility surveys and KAP surveys. This paper offers a reconceptualization of attitudes toward pregnancy as a set of perceived advantages and disadvantages to childbearing and as a dynamic decision‐making process. A model is suggested which recognizes that attitudes toward pregnancy and fertility goals can differ in the preconception, pregnancy, and postnatal periods. It is hypothesized that within each stage, decision‐making on fertility goals and birth planning depends on the couple's perceived susceptibility to pregnancy, the perceived significant advantages and disadvantages to childbearing, the knowledge, availability, and acceptability of birth‐planning measures, and couple communication on these topics.