Aims and Scope

The Open Family Studies Journal is an Open Access online journal which publishes articles covering all areas of family, family life and family dynamics. The journal seeks manuscripts that cover topics in family demography, family health, family violence, intimate partner violence, divorce and remarriage, culture and family, types of families, changing nature of families, religion and family formation, religion and family stability, family and child / adolescence studies, emotional or behavioral disorders, role of family, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention, respite and foster care, family stress, socioeconomic status and the family, family size, and contraceptive use in families, family decision making, and international migration and the family.


The Open Family Studies Journal, a peer reviewed journal, is an important and reliable source of current information on important developments in the field of family studies. The emphasis will be on publishing original and high quality articles rapidly and making them freely available to researchers worldwide.


Editor's Choice

Family Size Preferences in a College Student Sample

Brian H. Bornstein, David K. DiLillo, Hannah Dietrich

Background:

Family size preferences and birth rate vary across culture, gender, religion, race/ethnicity, and time; yet little is known about how or when people decide how many children to have. Sociobiology suggests that women should invest more time and effort into the decision than men.

Objective:

The study’s purpose is to examine family size preferences in a sample of male and female college students.

Method:

A sample of childless, college-aged participants (n =394; 58.7% women) completed a survey about their desires concerning procreation (e.g., “How many children do you want to have?” “How committed to that number are you?” “How old were you when you picked this number?”).

Results:

Women reported deciding how many children they ideally wanted at a younger age than men, being more committed to that number, and having given it more careful thought. Women also wanted to have their first child at a younger age than men, although men wanted marginally more offspring overall. Participants who used birth control wanted fewer children than those who did not. There were few differences as a function of religion or race/ethnicity.

Conclusion:

Family size preferences were consistent with sociobiological predictions, with women knowing how many children they wanted at a younger age than men, being more committed to a specific number, having given the matter more careful thought, and wanting to start childbearing at a younger age. Thus, despite recent cultural and societal changes, biological imperatives still appear to influence decision making about this most fundamental of behaviors.

July 31, 2017
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