Female university students’ plans for timing of motherhood and interpretations of age related infertility

Abstract

Abstract Similarly to many other countries, the average age of mothers at first childbirth has increased in Hungary compared to previous decades. In the event of a deferral of planned childbirth there is a danger, due to biological limitations, that some women cannot implement their childbirth plans. A wide range of studies have already examined the factors influencing the timing of childbirth. One potential influencing factor that has only recently received international attention is the lack of knowledge about age-related fertility decline among lay people. This paper intends to contribute to this area by examining an under-researched qualitative research agenda: how students perceive the relationship between age and fertility. In 12 focus groups, among the investigated young women, biological limitations did not explicitly surface in their discussions on the timing of childbirth. On the other hand factors were emphasized that they would like to achieve before having a child. During the conversations a knowledge deficit could often be observed about biological factors and fertility, and technological myths surfaced recurrently - positive myths about their own fertility and about the IVF procedure. Myths were often discussed by group members by referring to various media cases or cases of acquaintances, which were then generalized. In the discourses, a resistant attitude was also present, in response to the social pressure they perceived. They felt that there was a pressure on them for early childbirth, but that in these discourses, according to their perception, decreasing age-related fertility did not appear as a topic. To interpret the results, besides the social psychology theory of exemplification, I use the deficit and contextual model of public understanding of science/technology. Keywords: infertility, childbearing, focus group