Birth planning of youth: Concern about overpopulation and intention to limit family size.

This paper addresses the questions of whether the theoretically related variables concern and intention are linked empirically and to what extent: i.e. population concern and intention of limiting family size. Another purpose was to consider certain personality traits that may relate to birth planning. Likert-type scales were administered to 360 subjects (nurse trainees at an urban hospital students at Connecticut colleges and University of Hawaii upperclassmen). Results showed that the belief in severity of overpopulation and the personal intention to limit ones family size or fertility were not independent attributes; on the contrary the two variables seemed to be belief-action components of the same attitude. Also it was showed that variation in fertility-related attributes is explainable in psychological as well as in demographic terms. The connection between the F-scale and fertility control is discussed.