Attitudes to family formation in Scotland linked data

Tables available here.

Full report available here

Not assessed

The most recent source available on ideal family size was a fertility module commissioned in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSAS) of 2005. A nationally representative sample of child-bearing age (N=781) were asked about their ideals and expectations with regard to childbearing. Respondents said that their average ideal family size in Scotland was 2.48 children. In practice the average number of children reported by respondents at the time asked was 1.24, while the TFR in Scotland in 2005 was 1.62. While it is not possible to make robust direct comparisons between 2005 and 2021 data, the data can help to contextualise the recent findings within this report.

Fieldwork ran from 18 November 2021 until 3 December 2022.

Full report available here

Research objectives were:
Investigate general attitudes around having children in Scotland and their drivers;
Explore views on the barriers that people may face when planning to have children;
Explore enablers at the country, societal and family-level to enable people to reach their ideal family size;
Explore participants' views on their ideal family size, and how this relates to the size of family that they either expect to have or already have;
Explore how attitudes towards recent trends, such as climate change, delayed parenthood, and Covid-19, relate to decisions to having children; and
Explore attitudes to and reasons for not having children.

A quantitative survey ran from 18 November 2021 until 3 December 2022, involving the collection of information from a random sample of the adult population in Scotland (total sample size 1,144). Although the sample was representative of and weighted according to the population of Scotland, it should be noted that the sample sizes were small for people living on islands and the youngest age group (18-29). In some instances, responses of these groups were suppressed due to the small sample size.

Full report available here.

This is a one-off research publication so not subject to revision.

The ScotCen Panel operates in compliance with GDPR, and the fieldwork design is reviewed by NatCen's internal Research Ethics Committee on an annual basis. While the research team at NatCen will have access to detailed personal information of Panel members as part of the study's operation, we will provide a pseudonymised dataset to Scottish Government with all directly identifiable information dropped. In addition, the data will be reviewed for disclosure risk, with categories collapsed as necessary (for example, providing age bands rather than precise age). In particular, attention will be paid to the disclosure risk of including two relatively detailed geographical variables, and measures required to limit that risk.