In the wake of declining fertility rates observed across numerous Western countries following the Great Recession, fertility research has increasingly focused on subjective dimensions of economic uncertainty in attempting to explain contemporary fertility dynamics. While the existing literature has primarily examined subjective economic uncertainty in terms of perceived employment stability, recent arguments have been made that resilience toward employment loss might have more salient effects on fertility intentions. Following these arguments, this thesis aims to provide further insight into the current fertility decline in Sweden by examining the relationship between perceived resilience and fertility intentions among Swedish childless couples. Utilizing cross-sectional data from the Swedish Generations and Gender Survey 2021, logistic regression is employed to examine the association between resilience and fertility intentions and how it varies across sociodemographic/socioeconomic groups and individual perceptions of employment stability and risk attitudes. Logistic regression models indicate that being unsure regarding one’s resilience is associated with lower fertility intentions for men, with no similar association found for women. This effect of uncertainty regarding one’s resilience is further suggested to be isolated to foreign-born individuals. Although clear associations between low resilience and fertility intentions are not evident overall, they may be observed among the economically vulnerable. Theoretically, these findings are suggested to reflect a difference in perceived risks and uncertainty, where it is more an inability to foresee future risks than an expected future risk that could inhibit the formation of fertility plans for individuals. Although the results suggest that resilience may play a role in the Swedish fertility decline, the limited sample and cross-sectional nature of the data preclude definitive conclusions regarding the extent of this role.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-231628 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Lindström, Oskar |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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