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Qualitative Research
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Where Qualitative Research Meets Demography: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Conceptions of Fatherhood in an Extremely Low Fertility Context

Holger Von Der Lippe

Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Urs Fuhrer

Institute of Psychology, University of Magdeburg, Germany

Recent calls to include psychological theories of decisionmaking and intention-formation in research on family formation coincide with calls for improving research on male fertility and fatherhood. In this article we address these notions and present findings from in-depth interviews with 30-year-old childless men from Eastern Germany on their desire to become parents. The context for this research is the societal situation of contemporary Eastern Germany, where birth rates have faced a historical low - the lowest in more than 10 years. Our innovative analytical paradigm draws on the contemporary social cognitive theory of intention-formation. The focus lies on the examination of male attitudes, values, motives, interests, goals, action beliefs and self-concepts, and their connection with men’s intentions for parenthood. We compare our results with explanations given by the Theory of Symbolic Self-Completion and the Theory of Reasoned Action. We argue for the need to bring together psychological and sociological theorizing in this field.

Key Words: birth rate • demography • East Germany • fatherhood • fertility • men • qualitative psychology

Qualitative Research, Vol. 4, No. 2, 201-226 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1468794104044432
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