Rationality of women in fertility decisions: An intergenerational study in rural Indonesian contexts

Abstract

This study investigates the rationality underlying women’s fertility decisions in rural households, focusing on intergenerational dynamics within a specific Indonesian context. Globally, fertility patterns are shaped by complex socioeconomic, cultural, and individual factors, with women’s rational considerations often overlooked or oversimplified. This research aims to explore how women in Jrengik Village, Sampang Regency, Indonesia, make decisions regarding family size, considering perspectives of consumption, production, and future security. Employing a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with women from different generations within the same households, the study delves into their perceptions and reasoning. Preliminary findings reveal a nuanced interplay of economic considerations, such as labor availability and old-age support, with non-economic factors, including social prestige, emotional fulfillment, and cultural norms surrounding ideal family size. Notably, generational differences highlight shifts in the salience of these rationales, suggesting an evolving understanding of the “utility” of children. This study contributes to the broader discourse on fertility transitions by emphasizing the subjective rationalities of women, offering valuable insights for population policies that aim to align with community perspectives in rural areas undergoing demographic and socioeconomic transition.

Keywords

Rationality / Fertility decisions / Women’s agency / Intergenerational dynamics / Rural contexts

Funding

None.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

[1] Agudamu Li, Y., Mi N., & Pan X. (2025). A computational grounded theory based analysis of research on China’s old-age social welfare system. Frontiers in Public Health, 13:1556302. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1556302

[2] Aguzzoli R., Lengler J., Miller S.R., & Chidlow A. (2024). Paradigms in qualitative IB research: Trends, analysis and recommendations. Management International Review, 64(2):165-198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-024-00529-5

[3] Ahmed K.J., Tan Y., & Rudd D. (2024). Exploring the relationship between changes in fertility and disasters: A review of the literature. Journal of Population Research, 41(1):1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-023-09324-9

[4] Aitken R.J. (2024). Population decline: Where demography, social science, and biology intersect. Reproduction, 168(1):e240070. https://doi.org/10.1530/REP-24-0070

[5] Amin H., Cochrane L., & Al-Kaabi N. (2025). The role of the family in re-imagining Islam, cultural traditions and society in the Arabian Gulf. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 45:696-709. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-10-2024-0473

[6] Aref A., Fallentine A., & Zahran S. (2024). The state of urbanization, demographic changes, and family dynamics in Africa. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 54(3):283-297.

[7] Asratie M.H., Belay D.G., Alem A.Z., Chilot D., Tsega N.T., Kibret A.A., et al. (2024). What are the associated factors of low husbands/partners independent decision-maker in women’s contraceptive use decision-making process in Ethiopia? Multilevel analysis. BMC Public Health, 24(1):2185. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19572-w

[8] Atahigwa C., Coene G., Achen D., Neema Murembe C., & Lafaut D. (2025). Navigating gender and power: A qualitative analysis of fertility decision-making in Rubirizi District, Southwestern Uganda. Women’s Reproductive Health, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/23293691.2025.2529338

[9] Baigabulov Y. (2024). Essays on Labor and Family Economics. United States: The Pennsylvania State University.

[10] Bang T.C. (2024). Ensuring credibility and trustworthiness in qualitative inquiries. In: Applied Linguistics and Language Education Research Methods:Fundamentals and Innovations. United States: IGI Global, p. 70-85.

[11] Barbalet J. (2025). Intergenerational family relations in reform China: Background and context. The Sociological Review, 73(4):735-752. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261251347725

[12] Bart C.J.M.F., David Adamson G., Boivin J., Chambers G.M., de Geyter C., Dyer S., et al. (2024) Contributors and members of the IFFS Demographics and Access to Care Review Board, Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building: An IFFS consensus document based on a narrative review of the literature. Human Reproduction Update, 30(2):153-173. https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmad028

[13] Becchio G. (2024). Pioneering feminist economics: Barbara Bergmann’s contributions to gender issues. Eastern Economic Journal, 50(4):472-495. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-024-00267-4

[14] Becot F.A., & Inwood S.M. (2024). Children needs and childcare: An illustration of how underappreciated social and economic needs shape the farm enterprise. Agriculture and Human Values, 42:693-712.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10594-z

[15] Bismoko A.B., Saputra D., & Najib. (2025). Intrahousehold bargaining power, intergenerational influence, and women’s fertility preferences in Indonesia: Insights from longitudinal panel data: Journal of Population Research, 42(3):36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-025-09388-9

[16] Chen J., He M., Chen J., & Zhang C. (2024). Exploring the role and mechanisms of environmental serious games in promoting pro-environmental decision-making: A focused literature review and future research agenda. Frontiers in Psychology, 15:1455005. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1455005

[17] Cho J.H. (2025). The construction of neoliberal women in post- IMF Korean society. In: Neoliberalization of South Korea: Economic Restructuring, Social Precarity, and Post- Developmental Democracy. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. p. 249-275. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83760-9_11

[18] Czaika M., & Weisner Z. (2025). Migration aspirations and their realisation: A configurational driver analysis of 26 African and Asian research areas. Comparative Migration Studies, 13(1):8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-025-00428-0

[19] Dai Y., Zhao Z., Sui J., & Xu J. (2025). The impact of delayed retirement on labor employment, fertility rate and economic growth in China. International Review of Economics and Finance, 100:104103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2025.104103

[20] Dalla R.L., Sethi R., Dholpuria H., Kaur V., & Kaur A. (2025). “We want to go home”: Migration, family dynamics, and employment among bonded laborers in India’s brick Kiln industry. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40:387-302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-025-10030-2

[21] Fauser B.C., Adamson G.D., Boivin J., Chambers G.M., de Geyter C., Dyer S., et al. (2024). Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building: An IFFS consensus document based on a narrative review of the literature. Human Reproduction Update, 30(2):153-173. https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmad028

[22] Frantsuz Y. (2024). Analytical overview of the established demographic theories of fertility: Agenda for further advancement. Population Review, 63(1):1-23. https://doi.org/10.1353/prv.2024.a917414

[23] Fu W., Jiang Q., Ni J., & Xue Y. (2025). Digital transitions and sustainable futures: Family structure’s impact on Chinese consumer saving choices and marketing implications. Sustainability (2071-1050), 17(13):6070. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136070

[24] Harris N. (2025). Children, families and social security: Eleanor Rathbone’s welfare legacy. The Modern Law Review, 88:873-910. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12949 https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs-083-2023

[25] Jarosz E., Matysiak A., & Osiewalska B. (2025). Mothers’ parenting behaviours, strain, enjoyment and subsequent childbearing. Journal of Family Issues, 46(5):711-732. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X241257235

[26] Jiang H., Liu L., & Zhang Y. (2024). Household decision-making choices: Investment in children’s education or self-consumption. Behavioral Sciences, 14(3):224. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14030224

[27] Kahlke R., Maggio L.A., Lee M.C., Cristancho S., LaDonna K., Abdallah Z., et al. (2025). When words fail us: An integrative review of innovative elicitation techniques for qualitative interviews. Medical Education, 59(4):382-394. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15555

[28] Kizza J., & Wasswa G. (2024). Education and Fertility preference among women in Uganda. Tanzania Journal of Health Research, 25(3):989-1002. https://doi.org/10.4314/thrb.v25i3.2

[29] Klug K., Selenko E., Van Hootegem A., Sverke M., & De Witte H. (2024). A lead article to go deeper and broader in job insecurity research: Understanding an individual perception in its social and political context. Applied Psychology, 73(4):1960-1993. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12535

[30] Lee C. (2025). Democratising research practices with unaccompanied refugee young people using participatory arts-based methods. Sociological Research Online, 30(1):1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804241311473

[31] Liang M., Wong S.W., Tang B.S., & Liu J. (2025). Restructuring of village collectives and the increasing income disparities in peri-urban China. Cities, 166:106266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106266

[32] Lim W.M. (2025). What is qualitative research? An overview and guidelines. Australasian Marketing Journal, 33(2):199-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582241264619

[33] Lin T.S. (2025). Regional difference in changing son preference attitudes in Taiwan: An age-period-cohort-interaction analysis, 2001-2021. Population Research and Policy Review, 44(3):28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-025-09953-3

[34] Lloyd N., Hyett N., & Kenny A. (2024). To member check or not to member check? An evaluation of member checking in an interpretive descriptive study. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23:30138. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406924130138

[35] Matysiak A., & Vignoli D. (2024). Family life courses, uncertain futures, and the changing world of work: State-of-the-art and prospects. European Journal of Population, 40(1):19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-024-09701-x

[36] Mehta V., Kristoffersen I., & Li I.W. (2025). Home-winners and bread-makers: Gender role norms and the consumption of childcare. Review of Economics of the Household, 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-025-09773-6

[37] Murray L., Church A., Young S., Liu S., Eadie P., & Page J. (2025). What is the evidence of young children’s learning in intergenerational programs? A scoping review of the literature. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 23(3):1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2025.2515034

[38] Musni D.B., & Schnor C. (2025). The changing links between socioeconomic status and single women’s entry into parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 87(3):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.70006

[39] Nakamura M., & Akiyoshi M. (2024). Affective aspects of parenthood and their intergenerational effects on fertility. International Sociology, 39(3):261-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/026858092412304

[40] Okafor S., Onu J.C., & Nwaeze V.C. (2021). Rural small-scale women farmers and preference for family size in South-East Nigeria. Comparative Population Studies, 46:35-48. https://doi.org/10.12765/CPoS-2021-02

[41] Petersen C.J. (2025). The impact of the pandemic on reproductive autonomy and gender equality: Perspectives from the sustainable development agenda. Law and Development Review, 18(2):355-390. https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0011

[42] Qi X. (2025). Intergenerational relations: Paradoxical integration of feelings, opportunities and issues. The Sociological Review, 73(4):789-806. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261251347744

[43] Radey M., Wu Q., McWey L., & Millender E. (2024). Instrumental safety net configurations and changes over time among economically marginalized families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 94(3):339. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000728

[44] Riley N.E., & Chatterjee N. (2022). Controlling Reproduction: Women, Society, and State Power. United States: John Wiley & Sons.

[45] Ruckdeschel K. (2024). Ready for parenthood? On intensive parenting ideals and fertility. Journal of Family Issues, 45(12):2985-3008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X2412278

[46] Samakya S. (2024). Community beliefs and practices around high fertility in a high-risk environment: A qualitative study on Porja hilly tribe living in Andhra Pradesh, India. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 16(2):2455328X241265739.

[47] Schlunegger M.C., Zumstein-Shaha M., & Palm R. (2024). Methodologic and data-analysis triangulation in case studies: A scoping review. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 46(8):611-622. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945924126301

[48] Shobande O.A. (2025). Costs of love: A constrained utility approach to marital decisions and family outcomes. Research in Economics, 79:101064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rie.2025.101064

[49] Smith J.A., & Fieldsend M. (2021). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. United States: American Psychological Association.

[50] Squires V. (2023). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In: Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods: Selected Contextual Perspectives. Cham: Springer International Publishing. p. 269-274.

[51] Tan J., Cui Q., & Uchikoshi F. (2025). The increasing importance of changes in nuptiality: Policy mismatch and fertility decline in low-fertility Asian societies. Chinese Sociological Review, 7(1):1-30 https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2025.2480296

[52] Tartakovsky E., & Mizrahi M. (2025). The motivational foundations of childbearing: Investigating relationships between childbearing attitudes, value preferences, and parental bonding. PLoS One, 20(5):e0324243. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324243

[53] Thi T.T.M., Xiaorong G., & Dong N.H. (2021). Complex modernization: The value of children and social transformation in contemporary Vietnam. Child Indicators Research, 14(2):511-536. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-020-09791-z

[54] Thomason E.E. (2025). Owing the daughter-in-law: Bridewealth and the dynamics of intergenerational care in rural China. The Sociological Review, 73(4):771-788. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261251347743

[55] Tong T., Ye F., Zhang Q., Liao W., Ding Y., Liu Y., et al. (2024). The impact of labor force aging on agricultural total factor productivity of farmers in China: Implications for food sustainability. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 8:1434604. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2024.1434604

[56] Vizuete B., Oteros-Rozas E., & Garcia-Llorente M. (2024). Role of the neo-rural phenomenon and the new peasantry in agroecological transitions: A literature review. Agriculture and Human Values, 41(3):1277-1297.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10537-0

[57] Wang J., Xu J., Okumus F., Zhang J.Z., Liu D.Y., & Qi J. (2024). Understanding the antecedents of adolescent family tourism motivation: The role of adolescents’ self-differentiation and parent-child relationships. Journal of Travel Research, 63(9):1296096. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875241296096

[58] Willy C.J., & Faria F.N. (2025). Techno-natalism: Geopolitical and socioeconomic implications of emerging reproductive technologies in a world of sub-replacement fertility. Politics and the Life Sciences, 44:260-279. https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2025.10005

[59] Xia Y., Wu A., Li D., Wu L., & Han J. (2024). Exploring the value of children in the context of China’s modernization transition. Journal of Family Issues, 45(9):2182-2205. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X2311974

[60] Zhang X., Clark W.A., & Wu D. (2025). Urban‐Rural transformations and fertility decline in China: A distinctive perspective within the second demographic transition. Population, Space and Place, 31(4):e70037. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70037

[61] Zhi-Xuan T., Carroll M., Franklin M., & Ashton H. (2024). Beyond preferences in AI alignment. Philosophical Studies, 182(7):1813-1863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-024-02249-w