Public discourses and anecdotal evidence disseminated by several media sources has reported that, in western societies, few people are increasingly questioning their fertility desires and intentions in light of their growing concern about global warming and climate change. Climate change concern is said to impact fertility intentions through two main mechanisms. The first argument regards the negative impact of bringing additional consumers to the planet, while the second concerns the uncertainty about the future, and the feeling of guilt in fostering a child in an uncertain world, considered bleak or doomed. Nevertheless, whether these mechanisms have an actual impact on population-level fertility desires is scant, and reports mixed findings. The present study adds to the limited and contrasting literature on the relationship between climate change concern and fertility intentions in western societies, analysing the case of Italy. For the analysis, we employ data from the nationally representative survey “Families, Social Subjects, and the Life Cycle” of 2016. Preliminary results highlight a negative, but not statistically precise impact of climate change concern on fertility intentions, even when accounting for its interactions with age-group or education. Thus, results point to the conclusion that, despite some people being increasingly concerned about climate change, this does not have a visible effect on fertility intentions at the population level, at least in Italy._x000D_

Elena Bastianelli
University of Florence

 
ID Abstract: 583