Life satisfaction and motives for postponing parenthood among Polish women: A sequential indirect association model of depressive symptoms, future anxiety, and procrastination

Postponed parenthood is an increasingly common feature of reproductive patterns in high- and middle-income societies. Although previous research has examined factors associated with delayed parenthood, less is known about the psychological characteristics linked to self-reported motives for postponement. The present study examined the relationship between life satisfaction and motives for postponing parenthood and tested a theoretically ordered cross-sectional model involving depressive symptoms, future anxiety, and procrastination. Participants were 201 childless Polish women aged 20–44 years ( M = 32.75, SD = 6.91). They completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Motives for Postponing Parenthood, the Brief Screen for Depression, the Dark Future Scale, and the Pure Procrastination Scale. Higher life satisfaction was negatively related to some, but not all, motive-specific outcomes and to depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were positively associated with future anxiety, which was, in turn, positively related to procrastination. Higher procrastination was linked to higher motive-specific and overall postponement scores. The hypothesized specific sequential indirect association of life satisfaction with motives through depressive symptoms, future anxiety, and procrastination was statistically supported for uncertainty and incompetence ( B = −.0083, 95% bootstrap CI [−.0214, − .0007]), fear of change ( B = −.0054, 95% bootstrap CI [−.0148, − .0003]), financial security concern ( B = −.0095, 95% bootstrap CI [−.0229, − .0012]), and the overall motives score ( B = −.0324, 95% bootstrap CI [−.0818, − .0027]). The corresponding sequential indirect associations were not supported for self-focus, parenthood as a burden, or worry about a child’s future, indicating that the pattern differed across motives. Sensitivity analyses indicated that some outcome-specific sequential associations were not robust to the exclusion of potential multivariate outliers. Overall, the findings suggest that life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, future anxiety, and procrastination show distinct associations with self-reported reasons for postponing parenthood. Given the cross-sectional design, the observed sequential indirect associations should not be interpreted as evidence of temporal or causal psychological mechanisms.