Climate change now part of the family? Relationship between eco-anxiety, collective-efficacy, and childbearing intentions

<p dir="ltr">Fertility rates have been dropping for some time and coupled with increasing rates of anxiety about environmental degradation, the research suggests a possible link between eco-anxiety and childbearing intentions. The literature suggests that eco-anxiety results in two motivational patterns for children; 1. <i>Carbon footprint motivation</i> where people are concerned about the effect of population growth on earth’s resources, and 2.<i> Existential dread motivation</i> where people are concerned about the quality of life of their hypothetical child in a climate changed world. Additionally, popularity within collective climate action groups has spurred interest for the idea of collective-efficacy, and how confidence in our ability to mitigate climate change explains the relationship between eco-anxiety and childbearing intentions. 300 young adult participants (M=24) from the United States of America were recruited through <i>Prolific</i> and instructed to answer an online survey about their childbearing choices. A serial mediation was undertaken in Jamovi. Our findings partially support previous research, revealing that eco-anxiety relates to lower childbearing intentions, smaller ideal family size, and delayed childbearing, partially mediated by both motivations for children. Furthermore, collective-efficacy did not significantly contribute to explaining the link between eco-anxiety and childbearing intentions, hence additional research is necessary to explore alternative factors influencing this association further.</p>