High housing costs and unequal chore loads may not fully explain the drop in birth rates around the world, according to a new report from the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute.
The survey of nearly 10,000 respondents across more than a dozen countries points to culture, finding that peer pressure, anxiety about the future and the rise of “pet parenting” strongly influence whether couples choose to start or grow a family.
“Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn have six kids each. Their hipster neighbors have 1.6 kids each,” Lyman Stone, senior fellow and director of the Pronatalism Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, told Fox News Digital. “They live in the same economy. They have very different outcomes. Why? Different culture.”
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The report also tested whether sharing chores affects fertility intentions, finding no statistically significant relationship between family planning and either the division of household responsibilities or perceptions of fairness.
“There’s been a lot of research on, you know, ‘If men did more laundry, would birth rates go up? If men helped out more at home, would birth rates go up?’ And the answer is basically no,” Stone said.
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“The last 30 years have seen a revolution in involved fatherhood. Dads are doing more at home than ever before and fertility rates keep plummeting,” he added to Fox News Digital.
One of the strongest associations researchers identified was between fertility intentions and having a supportive circle of friends. Believing that one’s friends would celebrate a new baby was linked to a 10% increase in desired family size and a 20% higher likelihood of intending to have another child.
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“All around the world, we just found that friends are really important,” Stone said. “Where peer culture ratifies and encourages family life, family life is more successful.”
The association extended beyond friends to admired public figures. Respondents who admired a celebrity with more children than they had were 14% more likely to intend to have another child.
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Researchers also identified a connection between attitudes toward pets and decisions about having children. Respondents who expressed a preference for being a “pet parent” rather than having children reported a 30% lower desired family size and showed a 50% drop in intentions to have more children.
“The animal is not the problem. The problem is the attitude,” Stone said. “That says that, you know, changing a litter box is truly as meaningful as changing a diaper. And I just have to tell you, it isn’t.”
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Researchers found that risk aversion, anxiety about the future and general pessimism were also associated with smaller desired families. Respondents who were more comfortable taking risks and optimistic about their futures tended to desire and have more children.
“Some decline in fertility may just be because there’s bad vibes,” Stone said to Fox News Digital. “There’s just the internet constantly telling you that everything is bad, everything’s getting worse and there’s a million things to be worried about and you shouldn’t take any risks.”
“I hate to tell you, but yeah, having children has a possibility of hurting you, both physically, financially and emotionally, in the long run, you know, a child who grows up to reject you is a very painful thing. So yes, there is risk with having kids. But there is also great reward,” he added.
Encouragement from parents was another significant factor associated with fertility intentions. According to the study, “Parental encouragement to have children is associated with an 11% increase in desired number of children and a 30% increase in the likelihood of intending to have another one.” Encouraging childless, cohabiting adult children to marry was also associated with a 14% higher likelihood of intending to have a child.
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But Stone cautioned that guilt-tripping adult children into having kids may be ineffective. Instead, he suggested parents share the joy they experienced raising children and offer practical support.
“If you’re a parent and you want grandbabies from your adult children, you probably won’t get very far telling them that they owe you grandbabies,” Stone said. “But you may get somewhere telling them stories of how much you enjoyed raising them and how much fun you think you’re going to have helping them raise their children.”
Religion was another factor linked to larger families. Respondents with the highest levels of religious devotion had 9% more children and were 12% more likely to intend to have another child.
But researchers found no statistically significant relationship between hearing clergy speak about family and family size. Instead, the findings suggest religious communities may be associated with fertility intentions through friendships and networks of practical support, including help with meals and celebrating the arrival of a new baby.
“Where religion really does matter is it shapes the friendships people have. Religious people were overwhelmingly more likely to have friends who would be supportive of them having kids,” Stone said.
“So, it seems that what’s going on is religious communities are religious communities. They are places where people form friendships that create bonds of mutual support that exist almost secondary to the doctrines and theology of the organization. And first and foremost are about mutual investment in one another,” he added.
For Stone, the findings suggest that efforts to encourage family formation do not depend solely on government policies or financial incentives. Friends, relatives and neighbors can also play a role by creating communities where raising children is supported and encouraged.
“You matter to the people around you and you have influence on them,” Stone said. “You don’t have to wait for the government to pass a law to make a difference for family formation. Regular people can influence this just by being good friends, good neighbors, good parents, good leaders and good members of the community, and telling young families: ‘We’re here for you, we support you, we think this is a good and admirable thing to do.'”