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Fertility and family planning in the Irish Republic 1975

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

K. Wilson-Davis
K. Wilson-Davis
Affiliation:
Social Research Division, Stormont, Belfast
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Summary

A survey of 600 married couples in the Irish Republic in 1975 found marked pronatalist attitudes and an overall mean family size of 3·1 children, ranging from 1·1 children for couples with marriage duration of less than 5 years to 5·1 children for couples married for 15 years or longer. Husbands and wives had the same viewson the ideal size for the average family—5·6 children; this is considerably higher than other European survey findings. Overall, 66% of wives said that they had used some formof contraception and this correlates highly with social class, age of wife, educational level and residence. Use of the pill correlates with residence and age but not with social class or education. One-third of the sample would like more information on the subject of family planning. Although very few gave religious attitudes as a reason for not using birth control in general, 13% stated that the pill was immoral.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , July 1982 , pp. 343 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © 1982, Cambridge University Press

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