Value of Children: Attitudinal Factors Influencing Childbearing Desire of Iranian Women

Background: A set of economic and social rules and regulations as well as cultural factors influence value of children; however, this value itself could alter fertility behaviors. The present study aimed at investigating the influence of the value of children on fertility behavior through considering the impact of its attitudinal factors on childbearing desire, as one of the most important dimensions of fertility behavior. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 6231 females from 31 provinces of Iran, admitted to public health and treatment centers to vaccinate their children, during year 2014. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, including three value of children dimensions, including cultural (five items), social (seven items), and economic (four items) factors, and also demographic and attitudinal questions. Results: Data were analyzed using SPSS-17 software and the factors influencing childbearing desire (CD) were examined by four SEMs for four age groups in AMOS-22. Goodness of fit models was confirmed by five fit indices. Only cultural factors had a significant direct effect on CD for 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 year-old females (P-values = 0.027, and < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Thus, planners and policy makers should consider changes in the cultural value of children to implement successful policies to alter the current decreasing trend of fertility rate.