Time, stability, and fertility: Assessing general and specific timing dispositions with human fertility plans

Fertility intentions are predictive of actual fertility, but where do fertility intentions come from? This research assessed possible temporal timing dispositions, as well as relevant fertility attitudes and desires, as potential precursors to fertility intentions. Study 1 participants completed both temporal planning and fertility-related measures. Life history strategy, which is specifically focused on reproductive trajectory, correlated with fertility attitudes, desires, and intentions. These correlations weakened, however, comparing across attitudes, desires, and intentions. Delay discounting showed little relationship with fertility measures, or with life history strategy. Study 2 added time perspective measures and found present and future orientations were sporadically related to fertility attitudes/desires/intentions. These results suggest an indirect pathway from domain-specific timing dispositions (particularly relevant to the topic domain), to attitudes and desires, which then are related to intentions. Because Study 2 participants were sampled over an extended time period, there also are preliminary suggestions of more long-term, slower temporal orientation in the pandemic cohort. Broadly, understanding factors and processes underlying reproductive decision making is both theoretically important and an increasingly pressing social issue.