Date of Award

Fall 2026

Abstract

As anthropogenic climate change intensifies, recent studies have observed the extent to which individuals choose to remain “environmentally childfree,” or voluntarily childfree due to the impact the child may have on the environment, and their worry about the child’s wellbeing under climate change. Additional lines of research have noted that pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) – actions taken to reduce environmental harm – follow gendered patterns, with women being more likely than men to engage in PEB. Further, when presented with personal dilemmas that involve refraining from harmful actions, women have been found to express stronger moral reasoning than men. By connecting these lines of research, this thesis explores the extent that fertility intentions may be considered as a gendered pro-environmental behavior in response to climate change worry. Using data from round II of the generations and gender survey, I used logistic regression models to test the direct effect of climate change worry and sex, and conditional effects of climate change worry by sex on fertility intention. Contrary to what the literature suggests, men’s fertility intentions were reduced by high levels of climate change worry to a greater extent than women’s, though regardless of interaction effects, women’s fertility intentions were lower than men’s across all models. While these findings may be explained in part by the nuances of public, masculine PEB, as well as the attitude-behavior gap in environmentalism, further research is needed to fully understand how fertility intentions, attitudes, and behaviors are shaped by climate change worry.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

First Advisor

Karen Van Gundy

Second Advisor

Heather Turner

Third Advisor

Thomas Safford

Department or Program

Sociology

Degree Name

Master of Arts

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