Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
BACKGROUNDAs more people recognise the challenges of climate change, an increasing number are trying to reduce their ecological footprint.However, it remains uncertain whether this extends to decisions about having children.Despite public debate, scholarly research remains scarce. OBJECTIVEOur aim is to explore whether and how vignettes about climate change impact short-term fertility desires among young adults, and how this may be moderated by perceived personal responsibility and satisfaction with the government. METHODSWe conducted an online experiment with university students from Belgium (N = 262) and Italy (N = 169).Respondents not in the control group were exposed to either a pessimistic or a more optimistic climate change vignette before being asked about their fertility desires.Multinomial regression was used for hypothesis testing. RESULTSThe exposure to a pessimistic scenario increased the likelihood of low fertility desire in both Belgian and Italian respondents compared to their control groups.Following the optimistic scenario, Belgians reported a higher probability of high desire, while Italians experienced effects similar to those exposed to the pessimistic scenario.These differences were moderated by feelings of personal responsibility and satisfaction with government's actions.
Bisi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.