Marcinkowska Urszula M, Kasparek Krzysztof K, Zabdyr-Jamróz Michał, Kozłowska Marta, Nenko Ilona
Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
Centre for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 5;13:1462215. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1462215. eCollection 2025.
Deterioration of economic conditions, societal uncertainty, and negative expectations about the future have all been linked to delayed childbearing plans. All these negative circumstances can be related to epidemiological stress, which in turn becomes one of the culprits for changes in fertility plans. This study aims to analyze the individual factors that decrease the probability of wanting to have children after exposure to epidemiological stress from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Recruitment was conducted between April and July 2021. Participants who were heterosexual, non-parent, and non-pregnant without a diagnosis of infertility completed an online, anonymous survey providing information on sociodemographic variables, COVID-19 exposure, COVID-19-related stress, and changes in their reproductive desires. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze the data. Participants were also given the opportunity to provide a descriptive explanation for changes in fertility desires due to the pandemic or the political situation (abortion restrictions coinciding with the pandemic in Poland), which was then used for qualitative analysis.
A total of 706 participants completed the survey (mean age = 28.11, SD = 4.87, min = 19, max = 47). We found that (1) the desire to have children decreased in 43.3% of respondents, and (2) women with higher levels of epidemiological stress were more likely to report a decrease in their desired number of children than the less-stressed ones, after adjusting for potential covariates (aOR = 1.064, 95%CI = 1.03-1.10, < 0.001). Disease exposure yielded no significant results (aOR = 0.862, 95% CI = 0.73-1.02, = 0.072). Additionally, 70% of participants declared a decrease in their willingness to have children due to the political situation. All models were adjusted for age, education, place of residence, socioeconomic and relationship status.
The situation in Poland during the COVID-19 restrictions provided a unique combination of political and epidemiological stressors, showing that women's reproductive desires were related to pandemic stress (less so with the exposure to disease) and limitation of reproductive rights.
经济状况恶化、社会不确定性以及对未来的负面预期都与生育计划推迟有关。所有这些负面情况都可能与流行病学压力有关，而流行病学压力反过来又成为生育计划变化的罪魁祸首之一。本研究旨在分析在接触2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行带来的流行病学压力后，降低生育意愿的个体因素。
于2021年4月至7月进行招募。异性恋、非父母、未怀孕且未被诊断为不孕症的参与者完成了一项在线匿名调查，提供有关社会人口统计学变量、COVID-19暴露情况、与COVID-19相关的压力以及生殖意愿变化的信息。使用多重逻辑回归模型分析数据。参与者还被给予机会对因大流行或政治局势（波兰在大流行期间的堕胎限制）导致的生育意愿变化提供描述性解释，然后用于定性分析。
共有706名参与者完成了调查（平均年龄 = 28.11，标准差 = 4.87，最小年龄 = 19，最大年龄 = 47）。我们发现：（1）43.3%的受访者生育意愿下降；（2）在调整潜在协变量后，流行病学压力水平较高的女性比压力较小的女性更有可能报告其期望生育子女数量减少（调整后比值比 = 1.064，95%置信区间 = 1.03 - 1.10，P < 0.001）。疾病暴露未产生显著结果（调整后比值比 = 0.862，95%置信区间 = 0.73 - 1.02，P = 0.072）。此外，70%的参与者表示由于政治局势，其生育意愿下降。所有模型均对年龄、教育程度、居住地点、社会经济和关系状况进行了调整。
波兰在COVID-19限制措施实施期间的情况提供了政治和流行病学压力源的独特组合，表明女性的生殖意愿与大流行压力（与疾病暴露的关系较小）以及生殖权利限制有关。
