Selected Predictors of Parental Regret – A Cross-Cultural Analysis
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Individuals who choose to remain childfree often face social pressure, prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion. Some, influenced by expectations from their environment, parents, or partners, decide to have children despite a lack of desire or even an aversion to parenthood. Research suggests that such individuals are more likely to experience parental regret. This study explores the role of social pressure, parental desires, and expectations in shaping parental regret. A cross-cultural analysis was conducted across six countries: Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Czech Republic, and China. Data were collected from a total of 952 individuals. Multilevel modelling was employed to analyse the relationships between variables. The results indicate that parental regret is significantly predicted by retrospectively perceived parental desires and perceived pressure to have children, but not by retrospectively perceived parental expectations. The fixed effects explained 12.9% of the variance in parental regret (Marginal R2), while accounting for country-level differences increased the explained variance to 29.9% (Conditional R2), highlighting considerable between-country heterogeneity. Further analyses revealed that perceived pressure to have children was a significant predictor of parental regret only within the Chinese sample. Moreover, participants from China reported higher average levels of parental regret compared to participants from the European countries. These findings suggest that perceived pressure to become a parent is a substantial predictor of parental regret in China, while retrospectively perceived parental desires emerge as a more universal predictor of lower parental regret across cultural contexts. |
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