Effects of Childcare Anxiety upon Desire to Bear Children in Japan

Abstract

Using a sample of 2,350 mothers under 40-years-old using 38 nursery schools and kindergartens in a metropolitan area in Japan, this study examined effects of mothers' childcare anxiety upon desire for children. A relation was not proved in a demographic study, although it has been pointed out that childcare anxiety is one of the factors which affect Japan's declining birthrate. Multivariate analyses undertaken for this study revealed that mothers, who have high childcare anxiety, had significantly less desire for additional children. On the other hand, the degree of a trouble experienced by mothers in childcare does not affect their will to bear children. Results suggest the importance of a policy to reduce childcare anxiety of mothers as a measure against the declining birthrate. In addition, accumulated information from studies has mainly elucidated the effects that social economic factors exert on childbearing decisions in terms of demography, but results of this study suggest that the effect of a mother's psychological condition upon the childbearing decision is not small. These results show that it is important to push forward studies to elucidate influences of psychological factors to understand recent childbearing decision-making.