Across high-income countries, people are having fewer children, postponing parenthood, and increasingly remaining childless. While these trends are often explained by changing economic conditions, family policies, or gender roles, these factors alone cannot fully account for recent fertility decline.
The PSY-FER project takes a fresh interdisciplinary approach by examining how changing reproductive preferences and psychosocial factors—such as mental health, personal values, and uncertainty about the future—influence fertility behaviour. The project places particular emphasis on young people, exploring how they form and realise their reproductive preferences. It also investigates whether long-standing norms, such as the two-child ideal, are beginning to change in high-income countries.
Drawing on large international surveys alongside Finnish nationwide register data, PSY-FER applies advanced statistical and computational methods to study fertility decision-making across the life course. By integrating insights from psychology, demography, and sociology, the project aims to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving fertility decline in high-income countries.
The findings will contribute to scientific knowledge on fertility behaviour and provide evidence to support policies addressing population ageing and declining birth rates in high-income countries.
Title: Psychology of Fertility Behaviour: Exploring Shifting Reproductive Preferences and Fertility in High-Income Countries
Acronym: PSY-FER
FundingBody: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Project Leader: Kateryna Golovina
Project Team: Kateryna Golovina, one PhD student
Time Frame: 01 July 2026 to 30 June 2029
