People Are Avoiding Having Kids During COVID-19 Due To Financial Uncertainty, Claims Report
A new research indicates that couples who were planning to become parents have dropped the idea during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Rendering the recent prediction by UNICEF moot, a new research suggests that the baby boom expected during the COVID-19 pandemic might not take place.
As per the research, people are instead delaying their plans of parenthood. The uncertainty arising from the pandemic is said to be the key factor for this decision.
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Conducted by the University of Florence, the research highlights a survey wherein more than a third of people (37 percent) who were planning to have kids have put the plan on hold for the time being due to the pandemic.
The research also mentions that over 80 percent of all the participants of the survey, including those not having any plans of becoming parents, do not plan to conceive during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
(Representative Image: Reuters)
The results are a sharp contest to the earlier predictions by experts of an impending baby boom. Earlier predictions were based on the extended periods of lockdown implying frequent intimacy between partners that would eventually lead to pregnancy.
The new study agrees with these predictions to an extent. While it boldly predicts the number of child births during the crisis to reduce considerably, it highlights that the intimacy between partners as predicted earlier is still on the rise.
Instead, mental well-being of people is being blamed for the drop in the desire for parenthood.
Almost 60 percent cited worries over economic difficulties and any potential consequences on pregnancy due to the disease. 'What we found were the main reasons that led people to not wanting to conceive included worries related to future economic difficulties and consequences on pregnancy,¡¯ elaborates the lead author of the research - Dr Elisabetta Micelli.
(Representative Image: Reuters)
The research is based on 1,482 participants interviewed online. These included 944 women and 538 men aged between 18 and 46. The participants have been mentioned to be in a stable heterosexual relationship for more than a year.
Out of these, 1,214 (82 percent) did not intend to conceive during the COVID 19 pandemic. 140 (11.5 percent), however, did report a new desire for parenthood during the time. The wish was mainly expressed by women participants, though only six out of the 140 tried to get pregnant in this period.
Dr Micelli thus concludes, 'Remarkably, the fear of imminent and future economic instabilities led those who were searching for a pregnancy to stop their intention in 58 per cent of cases.'
