Men's Fertility-Related Knowledge andAttitudes, and Childbearing Desires, Expectations and Outcomes: Findings from the Understanding Fertility Management in Contemporary Australia Survey

摘要

Parenthood is a life goal for most people. Existing research about childbearing fo-cuses mostly on women. Little is known about men's childbearing aspirations andthe factors that influence them. The aim of this study was to investigate fertility-re-lated knowledge and attitudes, and childbearing desires, expectations and outcomesamong Australian men of reproductive age. A sample of 18-50-year-old men (N =1,104), randomly selected from the 2013 Australian Electoral Roll, completed a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire. Data were weighted to reduce non-responsebias. Factors associated with fertility and childbearing were identified in multi-variable analyses. Most respondents (90.0%) wanted at least two children andthought it was acceptable for men older than 50 years to be fathers (61.6%); theyunderestimated the effect of age on fertility and overestimated the ability of assistedreproductive technology to overcome age-related fertility decline. Targeted inter-ventions to increase men's knowledge of the limitations of fertility are recommended.