Associations Between Early Family Environment and Ideal Number of Children

Childhood family is vital for the formation of fertility preferences and attitudes toward family life. Yet previous studies mainly focused on structural aspects of the family, whereas the role of the so-called ‘softer experiences’ in the family in relation to fertility preferences remained largely understudied. This study examined how different aspects of the early family environment (i.e., relationships with parents, happiness in childhood, parental conflicts, family resources, as well as family structure) are related to the ideal number of children reported in adulthood. Using representative cross-sectional survey data from the Finnish Family Barometer 2015, the sample comprised men and women aged 20–45 with and without children. Poisson regression models indicated that a higher number of siblings was associated with a higher ideal number of children, whereas living in a single-parent household and overall negative perceptions of parents were related to a lower ideal number of children independent of various socio-demographic characteristics. Further analyses showed that these family characteristics were associated with the ideal number of children mainly among childless people but not among parents. The findings suggest that the early family environment is related to the formation of the ideal number of children, especially for childless people.