Likes, Loves, and Little Ones: Social Media Use, Union Histories, and Fertility Intentions among Young Adults in Europe

Michal Taracha , SGH Warsaw School of Economics
Pawel Strzelecki, SGH Warsaw School of Economics
Marta Kowalska, SGH Warsaw School of Economics

This study examines the association between social media use and fertility intentions among adults aged 28–32, using data from the second round of Wave 1 of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and GGS Harmonised Histories for Croatia, Estonia, and Norway. The analysis focuses on union-formation trajectories prior to age 28 and their association with childbearing and fertility intentions. Descriptive findings indicate that individuals spending 2–4 hours daily on social media had extensive union histories, low mean age at first union, long average union duration, and high average ideal family size. Meanwhile, those spending more than 4 hours formed fewer unions, had particularly short unions, fewer intended children, and the lowest share of unions ending up in marriage. Generalized ordered logistic regression models revealed several discrepancies between actual and intended fertility. Younger cohorts were more likely to intend to have children, despite older cohorts having a higher probability of already having children by age 28. High education and better financial well-being were associated with stronger fertility intentions, but also with fewer children in practice. Additionally, Norway exhibited higher early childbearing but comparatively low fertility intentions relative to Estonia and Croatia. Social media use was also differentially associated with actual and intended fertility across genders: Although women using social media for 1–2 and 2–4 hours daily were more likely than men to have had children, they were less likely to intend children in the low-use group. Interestingly, higher social media use appeared to be negatively associated primarily with men’s fertility intentions.

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 Presented in Session 105. Fertility and Digital Technologies