Our narrative data revealed various sources of uncertainty in fertility intentions and we discussed its consequences for predictive validity of questions on such intentions. The studies presented in this report take a step further: they ask what happens to (un)certainty in intentions as time passes by? Do intentions change? Are they getting realized? What are the reasons and processes behind various shifts and changes?
We address these questions in two studies, reported here. The analyses are all based on longitudinal qualitative data, a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with individual women or couples in reproductive ages. First, we focus on couples’ reproductive decision making and changing intentions over time based on the Swiss data. Second, the Italian study concentrates on the relationships between fertility intentions and their realization Changing-intentions.pdf (37-page report)