Heywood Wendy, Pitts Marian K, Patrick Kent, Mitchell Anne
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Victoria.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2016 Oct;40(5):462-467. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12562. Epub 2016 Aug 14.
This paper reports on fertility knowledge and intentions to have children among a national sample of students in years 10-12.
Data were from the Fifth National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health. Students identified factors that could affect fertility, if they wanted children and at what age.
Most students wanted to have children (77%). Of those who wanted children or were unsure (n=1,780), 54% were able to identify six of eight factors that could affect fertility. Male students had poorer knowledge than females. Poorer knowledge was also reported by male students who were born overseas or used marijuana and by female students who were sexually active or religious. More than half the students (59%) wanted their first child aged 25-29, while 19% wanted their first child after 30. Intentions to have children at an earlier age were associated with being religious, sexually active (females), and using marijuana (males). Students not exclusively attracted to the opposite sex were more likely to want children at an older age.
Most students typically want children in their late 20s. Many were unaware of factors that could affect their fertility and there was a mismatch between intentions and likely behaviour. These factors could be addressed as part of relationship education.
本文报告了10至12年级全国学生样本中的生育知识以及生育意愿。
数据来自澳大利亚中学生与性健康第五次全国调查。学生们指出了可能影响生育的因素、他们是否想要孩子以及想要孩子的年龄。
大多数学生想要孩子（77%）。在那些想要孩子或不确定的学生（n = 1780）中，54%能够识别出八个可能影响生育的因素中的六个。男学生的知识掌握情况比女学生差。出生在海外或吸食大麻的男学生以及有性行为或信教的女学生的知识掌握情况也较差。超过一半的学生（59%）希望在25至29岁生育第一个孩子，而19%希望在30岁之后生育第一个孩子。较早生育的意愿与信教、有性行为（女性）以及吸食大麻（男性）有关。并非只被异性吸引的学生更有可能在较大年龄想要孩子。
大多数学生通常希望在快30岁时生育孩子。许多人不知道可能影响他们生育能力的因素，而且意愿与可能的行为之间存在差异。这些因素可以作为关系教育的一部分加以解决。
