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Fertility Norms Scale (FNS)

Fertility Norms Scale (FNS) is a 10-item scale which captures expectations around pronatalism, childbearing early in marriage and community pressure. This measure may be useful for social norms-focused evaluations in family planning.

Categories

Geographies Tested: India

Populations Included: Female, Male

Age Range: Adults

Items:

1. In my community, it is expected for newly married couples to have a child soon after marriage.
2. In my community, it is expected for all married couples to have children.
3. In my community, people feel a lot of pity for married couples who are unable to have children.
4. In my community, people speak badly of married women who have not had a child after two or more years of marriage.
5. In my community, people speak badly of married men who have not had a child after two or more years of marriage.
6. In my community, people will think there are marital or health problems if a couple has not had a child after two or more years of marriage.
7. In my community, it is unacceptable for couples to choose not to have children.
8. In my community, it is common to ask married couples without a child when they will have children.
9. In my community, it is common for parents of the bride to pressure couples to have children soon after marriage.
10. In my community, it is common for parents of the groom to pressure couples to have children soon after marriage.

Response Options
Strongly Agree - 1
Agree - 2
Neither Agree nor Disagree - 3
Disagree - 4
Strongly Disagree - 5

Scoring Procedures

Scores of individual items are summed to create the total scale score. Those with a higher aggregate score represent more traditional fertility norms, that is, greater normative pressure for childbearing.

Original Citation

Bhan, N., Johns, N. E., Chatterji, S., Thomas, E. E., Rao, N., Ghule, M., Lundgren, R., & Raj, A. (2023). Validation of the Fertility Norms Scale and association with fertility intention and contraceptive use in India. Studies in Family Planning. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12227


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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