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Childbearing in Italy and Spain: Postponement Narratives
Author(s) -
Lebano Adele,
Jamieson Lynn
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
population and development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.836
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1728-4457
pISSN - 0098-7921
DOI - 10.1111/padr.12313
Subject(s) - postponement , normative , salience (neuroscience) , fertility , narrative , demographic economics , sociology , economics , political science , labour economics , psychology , positive economics , economic growth , population , demography , operations management , linguistics , philosophy , law , cognitive psychology
Italy and Spain are extreme cases of low fertility linked to postponement of childbearing. Demographers continue to debate causes of postponement. This qualitative study was designed to contribute, by purposively selecting Italian and Spanish women in different socio‐economic circumstances who are partnered, childless and aged 30 to 35. Most want children but “not now” or are deferring the decision whether to have children. Their different circumstances inflect explanations of postponement in a language of choice, either “taking time” to achieve other goals or “holding on” for conditions to change. They are encouraged to postpone by optimism about their capacity to conceive, flexible norms about “the right age,” prolonged dependence on their parents, the normative salience of “total motherhood,” and family‐unfriendly, gender‐unequal workplaces. Elements of competing demographic theories often coexist in interviewees' accounts. The “desires‐intentions gap” does not always capture their flow or complexity.