Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations University of Queenlsand Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations Women's Health Australia homepage about the Women's Health Australia project Women's Health Australia staff Women's Health Australia current events Women's Health Australia surveys and data Women's Health Australia substudies information for Women's Health Australia participants University of Newcastle contact Women's Health Australia Women's Health Australia publications and presentations

 
 


Research project

Rosie Mooney
BA Hons (Social Anthropology), PhD candidate

 

PhD Thesis: Declining fertility rates and the normalisation of technological control of reproduction among young Australian women.

Supervisors: Dr Penny Warner-Smith & Dr Ann Taylor

Purpose of the study: The aim of this project is to investigate the reproductive experiences and expectations of young women (aged 18-32 years old), with particular reference to how women situate their reproductive choices in relation to the numerous reproductive technologies available in today’s society. The research is located within current governmental and societal concern surrounding Australia’s falling birth rate and the consequent ageing of the population, and ongoing feminist debates regarding the impact technology has on women’s reproductive lives.

Phase one involved the analysis of existing qualitative data gathered from the Younger cohort (n= 14,247) of The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH, also known as Women’s Health Australia). This research investigated the qualitative data collected from the comments page of Younger Surveys 1 (1996), 2 (2000), and 3 (2003) when participants were aged between 18 and 30 years of age. The analysis examined over 6,600 separate snapshots of data in total (Younger Survey 1 n= 2,423; Younger Survey 2 n= 1,948; Younger Survey 3 n= 2,266).

Phase two entailed original qualitative data collection through the conduct of a series of focus group discussions with young women, also aged 18 to 30 years old. The focus group schedule was informed by themes from phase one of the project. Consequently, the focus groups elaborated and expanded on findings from phase one in more specific detail. Focus group participants were recruited through public advertisement and word of mouth, and are consequently not participants in the ALSWH. The flyers invited women to take part in a discussion on their reproductive beliefs, experiences and decision-making behaviour, and to complete a demographic survey. Twenty-four women participated in six focus groups and one interview in several areas around New South Wales. The discussions were audio taped and have been transcribed.

Both the ALSWH comments and focus group transcripts have been descriptively and thematically coded and analysed using the qualitative software package N6.

Preliminary findings from phase one and two suggest that in general both ALSWH and focus group participants would like to have children. When to have children appears to pose a complex question for young women, with the simple desire for motherhood frequently influenced by factors such as continuing education, establishing a career, economic stability, overseas travel, and finding a partner. This often results in women delaying motherhood, despite many holding strong views on the ‘ideal’ age to have children (usually before 35 years old) and expressing concerns about age related infertility.

The majority of these women use reproductive technologies to assist them in demonstrating their reproductive choices. Reproductive technology is reported as being used to both delay and accomplish the motherhood ideal and reconcile any unplanned reproductive experiences, in terms of both the timing of children, through the use of contraceptives and abortions, and becoming a mother in the face of fertility problems, using assisted reproductive technologies, such as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). However, despite the extent to which reproductive technologies are part of most young women’s lives many participants articulated a rather ambivalent relationship with the technologies. Most expressed a lack of trust toward contraceptives, a desire never to need to experience abortion or fertility treatment, and general concern about the side effects, costs, and interference with their daily lives and bodies, that are involved in the different technologies.

The preliminary findings from phase one and two have informed the third phase of the research, a substudy conducted with a sample of the younger participants (now aged 27-32 years) from the ALSWH, which is currently in progress. Women who are currently married or living in a de facto relationship, and who do not already have children are being invited to participate in a written quantitative survey and a semi-structured qualitative telephone interview about their reproductive decision-making. The written survey gathers information about the participant’s demographic background and reproductive experiences and plans and also builds on previously collected data by including questions asked at Survey 1 (1996), Survey 2 (2000) and Survey 3 (2003). The interview focuses on women’s plans and aspirations about if and when to have children, with an emphasis on the age women see as ideal for having children and on women’s use and perception of different reproductive technologies, specifically contraceptive technologies and assisted reproductive technologies, such as In Vitro Fertilisation.

It will be possible to link the survey and interview responses gathered from participants during phase three of the project with their previous survey responses.

The qualitative analyses will be supported by a number of cross sectional quantitative analyses of the existing ALSWH data. The representativeness of the participant sample at phase one and phase three of the project will be accessed. Specific reproductive experiences will be investigated, such as, age at birth of first and subsequent children; number/spacing of children; who is getting married; who is having fertility problems. In addition, descriptive analyses will explore the relationship between contraceptive use, socio-demographic background, motherhood aspirations and reproductive experiences, including maternal age and number of children.




To contact Rosie:
Rosie Mooney
Women's Health Australia
Research Centre for Gender Health And Ageing
University of Newcastle
University Drive
Callaghan
NSW 2308
Australia

Email: Rosie.Mooney@newcastle.edu.au

 
Link to Project Aims page Link to Project Progress page Link to Project Methods page Link to Project Progress page 		 


 
 

Last updated: 14th October 2005 by Cath Chojenta © Copyright