Fertility Desires, Intentions and Behaviour: A Comparative Analysis of Their Consistency

Abstract

Realisation of childbearing intentions implies couple’s dyadic interaction and proceptivebehaviour. Studies on childbearing intentions and outcomes have rarely considered non-­‐‑use of contraception or ‘proceptive behaviour’ in general as an important mediator offertility outcomes. The traits-­‐‑desires-­‐‑intentions-­‐‑behaviour theory (Miller and Pasta, 1996;Miller et al., 2004; Miller, 2010) expects proceptive behaviour to be the most accuratepredictor of a birth and intentions to be more predictive than desires. We test this theoryusing longitudinal data from the Generations and Gender Surveys from Austria, Franceand Bulgaria (2004–2013) and performing logistic regression models on birth outcomeswhich includes as key explanatory variables different pairwise combinations of desires,intentions and contraceptive (or proceptive) behaviour. The findings show that anindividual’s intention to have a child predicts the birth of a child better than non-­‐‑use ofcontraception, or proceptive behaviour; however, proceptive behaviour is a betterpredictor of a birth than non-­‐‑use of contraception. Finally, perception of the partner’sagreement on having a child now is less predictive than an individual’s intention to havea child within three years. This paper calls for the collection of genuine couple-­‐‑level dataon fertility intentions and behaviour and more refined measures on both contraceptiveand proceptive behaviour.

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