RNSurveyPublic health nursing (Boston, Mass.)2025

Climate Change Awareness: Does It Affect the Fertility Desire?

Özge Topsakal, Esra Çevik

PMID 40371975

WHAT IT FOUND

Higher climate change awareness was associated with slightly lower fertility desire in 440 married women without children in Türkiye.

The link was weak, so climate concern alone should not be assumed to explain childbearing plans.

Key findings

01Women with higher climate change awareness reported lower fertility desire than women with lower awareness.

02The association was weak: fertility desire had a negative correlation of r = -0.151 with overall climate change awareness.

03Climate awareness alone explained 3.1% of the variance in fertility desire scores.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs

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What it does not show

The sample was a convenience sample from one hospital outpatient clinic, so the authors state the results cannot be generalized. The Fertility Desire Scale had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.66 in this study, below 0.7, which the authors say limits reliability. The fertility scale included items with religious or cultural connotations that may have affected responses. The study used a correlational design, so it cannot show that climate awareness caused changes in fertility desire. Participants were only married women without children, so it does not speak to unmarried women, women with children, or other family contexts.

Declared interests

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

The easy way to misread this

Do not conclude that climate change awareness causes lower fertility desire or that it is a major determinant. The study used a correlational design, and climate awareness alone explained 3.1% of the variance in fertility desire scores.

Read it on PubMed →