Concerns about climate change may influence decisions to have children

Ethical, environmental and political concerns about climate change may influence the decision to have children or how many children to have, according to a new study published by the scientific journal Plos Climate.

Researchers from University College London analyzed previous studies and found that greater concern about climate change was generally associated with less positive attitudes toward reproduction and a desire or intention to have fewer or no children.

The team looked at 13 studies involving 10,788 people, conducted primarily in the US, Canada, New Zealand and several European countries.

This association has been identified in twelve countries, the Efe news agency reported.

There were four key factors: uncertainty about the future of the unborn child, environmental views focused on overpopulation and excessive consumption, meeting the vital needs of the family and political sentiment.

The term “environmental anxiety” has quickly entered public discourse, “describing a range of negative emotional reactions including fear, worry, guilt and anger in response to climate change,” University College London said in a statement.

The study’s lead author, Hope Dillarstone, noted that the media has recently been “highlighting the growing number of people taking climate change concerns into account when planning” their reproductive decisions.

However, the team was concerned that “public discourse may have oversimplified this relationship” and wanted to understand whether there was an evidence base to support these claims, and if so, whether there were other motivating factors besides ethical concerns.

The study found that there is a “complex and intricate relationship between climate change and reproductive choice, with variation observed both within each country and between countries around the world,” the institute added.

One of the main reasons was individual care for their children in a world affected by the climate crisis.

The review also highlighted three other factors, with the environmental impact of reproduction being one of the main concerns, as people fear that having children will contribute to overpopulation and overconsumption in a world where resources are already scarce.

To a lesser extent, two studies conducted in Zambia and Ethiopia also found that participants wanted fewer children to meet subsistence needs during periods of declining agricultural productivity.

Additionally, in another study, some participants based their decision not to have children on political considerations, with two participants reporting that they refused to have children until systemic change occurred.

“Our analysis shows that many people are not only concerned about the well-being of their children as they grow up in a world of uncertainty, but also consider the impact of having children on the environment, their family’s ability to survive and their politics,” Dillarstone said.