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Costs and Benefits of Having Children

Costs and Benefits of Having Children is a 16-item measure capturing respondent perception of the costs and benefits of having children, chosen from the Slow Fertility Transition Project in Egypt. Items for cost include perception of pregnancy related health risks, paying for child care, parenting pressures and achievement of personal goals. Items related to benefits include averting loneliness in old age, increase in household incomes, prestige and power of the family and co-residence with children.

Categories

Geographies Tested: Egypt

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adults

Items:

Costs, actual and perceived
1. Do you think another pregnancy would pose any health risks for you?

Response Options:
Yes - 1
No - 2
Don't know - 8

2. Last month did you have any difficulty paying for infant and child care and their medical expenses?
3. Last month did you have any difficulty paying for children's education?

Response Options:
Yes - 1
No - 2
Not applicable - 7

4. Having many children is an obstacle to parents being able to achieve what they would like to achieve.
5. Parents cannot raise their children properly if they have many children.
6. Having many children increases the financial pressure on the family.
7. Having many children in a family affects their educational level.
8. Having many children causes many disagreements and problems between husband and wife.

Response Options:
Agree - 1
Disagree - 2
No opinion - 8

Benefits, general and old-age co-residence
9. Parents should have many children so that they will not be lonely when they are old.
10. Having many children increases the family's income.
11. Having many children is good because they provide help to parents for household tasks such as taking care of younger children.
12. Parents feel alive after death when they have many children because their name will be continued through their children.
13. Families must have more children to increase the power of their family and tribe.
14. A person with many children is looked up to in the community more than a person with 1 or 2 children.

Response Options:
Agree - 1
Disagree - 2
No opinion - 8

15. What do you think is best for most people in old-age: To live with a son, a daughter, either a son or daughter, or not live with children?
16. In your case, in your old-age do you expect to live with a son, a daughter, either a son or daughter, or not live with your children?

Response Options:
Son - 1
Daughter - 2
Either - 3
Not with children - 4

Scoring Procedures

Not Available

Original Citation

El-Zeini, L. O. (2008). The path to replacement fertility in Egypt: Acceptance, preference, and achievement. Studies in Family Planning, 39(3), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2008.164.x


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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