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Chapter1:Introduction
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ordertofindacommondenominatorforalltheexplanations,weturntomodels
ofindividualchoice.Wearguethat,byexploringhowpeoplemaketheirfertility
choices,wecanimproveourunderstandingoftheinterplayofvariouseconomic,
institutional,aswellasculturalfactors.Attheendofthischapter,webreakdown
ourgeneralresearchquestionsintomorespecificoneswhichrelatetothekey
componentsofchoice:motivationandbehaviouralcontrol.
InChapter4wedescribeourmethodologicalapproachtotheempirical
study.Wedescribeindetailourmethodandsample,aswellastheprocedures
usedindatacollectionandanalysis.
Chapters5to7presentourresearchfindings.InChapter5,weinvestigate
themotivationsbehindchildbearing,andthevariousbeliefsthatfuelit.Weex-
plorethemeaningofparenthood,anditsimportanceandrelativeplaceinthe
respondents’valuesystems.Weexplainthereasonswhyparenthoodremainsone
ofthemostimportantlifegoalsfortheinterviewees.Wealsotouchontheissue
ofthepreferredfamilysize.Theoverallaimofthischapteristounderstandhow
themotivationforchildbearingisformed.
InChapter6,weexploreperceivedcontroloverbehaviour,orthevarious
conditionswhichtherespondentsbelieveshouldbeinplacebeforeenteringinto
parenthood.Firstwediscusspsychologicalreadinessandproperrelationshipsta-
tusasconditionsforchildbearing.Nextweinvestigatevarioussituationalvari-
ables,ortheresourcesandcircumstancesthattheyoungpeopletakeintoac-
count.Wealsoanalysehowtheyperceivevariousmacro-levelopportunitiesand
constraintsinrelationtochildbearing.Theaimofthischapteristounderstand
howyoungpeopledefinethemomentwhentheyarereadyandabletowelcome
anoffspring.Ingeneral,welookatthepointatwhichbehaviouralcontrolis
thoughttobesufficientforbecomingaparent.
InChapter7weexplorethevariouspathstoparenthoodtakenbythecouples
inourstudy.Weillustratevariousbehaviouralstrategiestheychose,andstudy
howthesestrategiesdependedondifferentlevelsofmotivationandcontrol.The
aimofthischapteristodescribehowthecouplesinthestudyactuallybehaved,
andwhattheirreasonswerefordoingso.Weattempttobringissuesofmotiva-
tionandbehaviouralcontroltogetherinthischapter,andshowhowtheyevolve
intoactions.
ThediscussioninChapter8containssomeconcludingremarksonhow,in
ourview,thefindingsofourstudycanimproveourunderstandingofcurrent
fertilitypatternsinPoland.