Page 133 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Drivers of reproductive delay in the UK

the gap for men. Furthermore, there is some evidence priorities between men and women, and those with or
suggesting that education is not the main reason for the without a university degree. Specifically, it addresses the
fertility gap in men (Berrington & Pattaro, 2014, Morgan following questions:
& Rackin, 2010). (i) What are the barriers to reproduction in the UK?
The empirical literature discussed so far is helpful (ii) How do these barriers rank in importance, and what is
in identifying factors that are associated with fertility the distance between them?
timing and drivers of the fertility gap; however, they are (iii) How much reproductive time could potentially be
almost always retrospective studies (even the longitudinal recuperated if the barriers were removed or reduced?
ones) that correlate socioeconomic characteristics from (iv) How are these different or similar for men and women,
an individual’s past with eventual family timing and and by education?
size. They are also necessarily out of date because the Here, “reproductive time” refers to the fertile (fecund)
career trajectories and other decisions that people make period an individual has; the window of reproductive
over the course of their lives are only investigated once opportunity that is available to attain one’s desired family
their completed fertility is known. Correlations between size. Because men, women, and educational groups have
completed family size and career and other life milestones different needs, question 4 can only be answered in a partial,
tell us about fertility decisions from two or three decades more qualitative way. The four demographic groups were
ago, at best. To really understand the factors standing administered four different DCEs meaning that systematic
in the way of having a(nother) baby, we need to capture comparisons cannot be made across groups although one
the decision-making process in motion. By applying an can still get some insight into the differences.
innovative methodology, discrete choice experiments Ethics approval for this study was granted by the
(DCEs), we can identify the barriers facing aspirant parents University of Oxford’s Ethics Committee (Ref No.: SAME_
(first time parents or those who want another child) in the C1A_21_079).
UK right now.
One criticism of the fertility gap literature is that stated 2. Data and methods
ideal family sizes are difficult to estimate or may not exist This study was partly conducted as a methodological
at all. The cognitive-social model (Bachrach & Morgan, test case to establish whether DCEs are well-suited to
2013) posits that even if they do, it is likely that fertility modeling reproductive decision-making. The method
decisions change over the life course (Bernardi et al., is prevalent in the field of health economics where it is
2015). The present study avoids these limitations because applied to better understand patients’ and health workers’
the DCE asks people what is standing in the way now. needs (Oliver et al., 2019) and is fundamental to informing
What things do they need to have in place before they feel health economics policy (van den Broek-Altenburg
ready to have a child? This is regardless of what family size & Atherly, 2020). DCEs were originally adapted from
they said they wanted when they were younger. This study conjoint analysis, which consumer behavior researchers
gathered data from participants who were open to having use to determine which features that consumers want
a(nother) child and the DCE identifies the barriers to that from products where it is not usually cost-effective or
life event, whether or not they are on track to attaining practical to develop many prototypes. Political scientists
their achieved family size, that is, whether they have a routinely use it for understanding voting behavior and
personal fertility gap, or not. Theories of planned behavior it is also commonly used in transport research. Discrete
and other rational choice models assume that the decision choice models can be applied to any complex decision-
to have a child is calculated and a product of conscious making process but until now have never been applied to
decision-making. While the DCE unavoidably asks people understanding fertility behaviour. This study provides the
to consciously think of the barriers to their having a child, first evidence of DCE efficacy for unpacking the processes
it also harnesses people’s less conscious decisions by that go into reproductive decision-making and ultimately
presenting the choices in relatively quick succession (see drive reproductive postponement.
methods) (Hensher, 2014).
This study contributes to our understanding of the 2.1. DCE methodology
drivers of fertility postponement. It applies an innovative A DCE is a multidimensional experimental method for
methodology, never used before to answer such questions, eliciting stated preferences. It allows the identification and
to identify the barriers to reproduction currently in the evaluation of a set of factors relevant to a particular decision-
UK. Furthermore, this study was conducted for four making process, known as attributes. It can determine
demographic groups to gain insight into the different the relative salience of the attributes and estimate how

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 127 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3600