A new report from the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute argues that falling birth rates have less to do with housing costs or who does the laundry and more to do with culture, peer pressure and attitudes toward risk and pets.
The study surveyed nearly 10,000 people across more than a dozen countries and found that the usual economic explanations for shrinking families don’t hold up well under scrutiny. Researchers found no statistically significant relationship between fertility intentions and either the division of household chores or perceptions of fairness in a relationship.
“There’s been a lot of research on, you know, ‘If men did more laundry, would birth rates go up? If men helped out more at home, would birth rates go up?’ And the answer is basically no,” said Lyman Stone, senior fellow and director of the Pronatalism Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies.
Stone pointed to a comparison within a single New York City neighborhood to make his point about culture over economics. “Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn have six kids each. Their hipster neighbors have 1.6 kids each,” he told Fox News Digital. “They live in the same economy. They have very different outcomes. Why? Different culture.”
He also noted that decades of change in how involved fathers are at home haven’t moved the needle. “The last 30 years have seen a revolution in involved fatherhood. Dads are doing more at home than ever before and fertility rates keep plummeting,” he said.
Friends, Celebrities and the Power of Encouragement
The strongest factor researchers identified was whether people believed their friends would support them having a baby. That belief was linked to a 10% increase in desired family size and a 20% higher likelihood of wanting another child.
“All around the world, we just found that friends are really important,” Stone said. “Where peer culture ratifies and encourages family life, family life is more successful.”
The effect wasn’t limited to friends. Respondents who admired a celebrity with more children than they had were 14% more likely to intend to have another child. Encouragement from parents mattered too: parental encouragement was tied to an 11% increase in desired number of children and a 30% jump in the likelihood of intending to have another. Parents encouraging childless, cohabiting adult children to marry was associated with a 14% higher likelihood of intending to have a child.
Stone cautioned, however, that guilt doesn’t work as a motivator. “If you’re a parent and you want grandbabies from your adult children, you probably won’t get very far telling them that they owe you grandbabies,” he said. “But you may get somewhere telling them stories of how much you enjoyed raising them and how much fun you think you’re going to have helping them raise their children.”
Pets, Pessimism and Risk
The study also found a connection between attitudes toward pets and childbearing decisions. People who said they preferred being a “pet parent” to having children reported a 30% lower desired family size and a 50% drop in intentions to have more children.
“The animal is not the problem. The problem is the attitude,” Stone said. “That says that, you know, changing a litter box is truly as meaningful as changing a diaper. And I just have to tell you, it isn’t.”
Researchers also linked risk aversion, anxiety and general pessimism to smaller desired families, while those comfortable taking risks and optimistic about the future tended to want and have more children.
“Some decline in fertility may just be because there’s bad vibes,” Stone said. “There’s just the internet constantly telling you that everything is bad, everything’s getting worse and there’s a million things to be worried about and you shouldn’t take any risks.”
“I hate to tell you, but yeah, having children has a possibility of hurting you, both physically, financially and emotionally, in the long run, you know, a child who grows up to reject you is a very painful thing. So yes, there is risk with having kids. But there is also great reward,” he added.
Religion’s Role Runs Through Friendship
Respondents with the highest levels of religious devotion had 9% more children and were 12% more likely to intend to have another. But the report found no statistically significant link between hearing clergy preach about family and actual family size. Instead, the data suggests religious communities matter because of the friendships and practical support, such as help with meals or celebrating a new baby, that they foster.
“Where religion really does matter is it shapes the friendships people have. Religious people were overwhelmingly more likely to have friends who would be supportive of them having kids,” Stone said. “So, it seems that what’s going on is religious communities are religious communities. They are places where people form friendships that create bonds of mutual support that exist almost secondary to the doctrines and theology of the organization. And first and foremost are about mutual investment in one another.”
The findings arrive amid broader signs of family breakdown across the country, including in Pennsylvania, where a faith-based effort has recently formed specifically to try to rebuild marriage rates.
Stone argued the study’s biggest takeaway is that reversing the birth decline doesn’t require waiting on Washington. “You matter to the people around you and you have influence on them,” he said. “You don’t have to wait for the government to pass a law to make a difference for family formation. Regular people can influence this just by being good friends, good neighbors, good parents, good leaders and good members of the community, and telling young families: ‘We’re here for you, we support you, we think this is a good and admirable thing to do.'”
