New Research Explains The Role Of 'Future Anxiety' In Delayed Parenthood

Researchers Małgorzata Szcześniak, Celina Timoszyk-Tomczak and Adam Falewicz explain the motives behind the emerging new norm of 'delayed parenthood.'

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | April 08, 2025

A new study published in Frontiers in Psychology explored the reasons and underlying mechanisms that influence individuals' decisions to delay parenthood — that is, choosing to wait until their mid to late 30s to have their first child, if at all.

The study found that future anxiety — feelings of fear and uncertainty about the consequences of having a child or concerns about the child's future — is strongly linked to the common motives behind the decision to postpone parenthood.

I recently spoke with the study's lead authors — Małgorzata Szcześniak, Celina Timoszyk-Tomczak and Adam Falewicz — from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Szczecin, to discuss the various causes and implications of these fears, as well as how they might be addressed. Here's a summary of our conversation.

What inspired you to investigate the contributing factors to delayed parenthood?

The first reason was a simple social observation. In Poland, since 2015, the State has introduced social programs to financially support families for each child born. This has translated into an increased sense of quality of life, but, despite the government's intentions, it has not increased fertility rates. This inspired us to look for an explanation for this situation and pay attention to the psychological aspects behind the decision to have a child.

Moreover, in 1995, the average age of Polish women giving birth to their first child was 23.7. The latest Eurostat data for 2023 show that this age has already increased to 30.1. These statistics are also why we started looking at the psychological motives for postponing the decision to have a first child to a later age.

Although there are studies based on the narratives of people who have postponed the decision to have a child, there were no questionnaires that measured the intensity of the motives that lead people to delay such a decision. Based on this research, we identified six more frequently mentioned motives and we built the Multidimensional Scale of Motives for Postponing Parenthood that assesses:

1. Feeling of uncertainty and incompetence that involves a belief in one's own unpreparedness to act as a parent;
2. Self-focus that refers to self-fulfillment;
3. Parenthood as a burden that implies fear of the sacrifices associated with having and caring for a child;
4. Fear of change that reflects a fear of the unknown and potential negative consequences co-occurring with the birth of a child;
5. Financial security concern that is related to the perception of precarity and apprehension of not having sufficient resources to raise a child;
6. Worry about a child's future that stems from the fear that the child may suffer from climate change or wars.

Many discussions around delayed parenthood focus on external factors like finances or career goals. Based on your findings, how much weight should we give to psychological factors in comparison?

That's right. However, our research has shown that the background to the decisions being made are personality traits related to both anxiety and level of maturity for parenthood.

Our initial research showed that the factors that determine the decision to postpone taking on a parenting role are diverse. People feel insecure and perceive themselves as incompetent to take on the parenting role. This seems to be related to the high expectations that potential parents internalize, which consequently has a paralyzing effect on them.

Among the motives for which individuals choose to defer the parental role are also career and self-development factors. For some people, the priority is to achieve life's aspirations and goals. In this sense, having a child would be a significant obstacle to such a plan.

Parenting is also perceived as a burden, which is related to the fear of the challenges and sacrifices that raising a child entails. The time and commitment to raising a child is seen as competing with the existing routine of life. Bringing a child into the household also signifies a change in both the relationship between the couple and in the woman's body. For some, the fear associated with this holds back the decision to have a child.

It can be assumed that this is backed up by fears about the permanence of the relationship and an impermanent sense of security in the relationship (e.g., a sense of being attractive, regardless of changes in one's appearance). Concerns about finances are also not insignificant. The cost of raising a child, as perceived by potential parents, is sometimes greater than their current financial capabilities.

Among the motives for postponing parenthood, there are also themes of the uncertainty and instability of the current political situation, the threat of war and climate change. This may show the role of values related to responsibility for the safety and health of offspring.

Did you notice any generational differences in attitudes toward parenthood that might suggest shifting cultural norms?

Admittedly, our research concerns a group of people who could potentially still have offspring in the future (which represents quite a large age range, around 20 years), and we would certainly like to focus future research on detecting the dynamics of intergenerational change in attitudes to parenting.

However, at this stage of the research, we have already become convinced that intergenerational changes are related to the realm of values. There is an increase in the personal relevance of values related to self-development, a sense of civil and ecological security against the simple relevance of wealth as conditions for embracing a child in the family.

Perhaps the essence of this change relates to the fact that societies are becoming more individualistic. In the past, a child was seen as a safeguard for the family and its future. Today, for some, a child may instead threaten the sense of stability, development and maintenance of the status quo they have worked for throughout their lives.

Observing the motives for postponing parenthood, we predict that differences may relate to changes in the sense of competence and ability to care for the child. Older generations may have experience caring for their own siblings. Today's young adults usually had one, two or no siblings at all. Earlier generations may have more often experienced the situation of having multiple, much younger siblings that their parents asked them to care for. Hence, the younger generation may feel less qualified to care for their own children.

Moreover, an interesting result that we observed is that the strength of all six motives decreases with age, which could suggest that as young people mature, they experience less anxiety related to parenthood. In our other research, we found that maturity correlated negatively with the motives to delay parenthood — a result that may explain the negative association between age and the motives.

With rising concerns about economic instability, climate change, and political uncertainty, do you think we'll see an increasing trend of delayed parenthood due to psychological factors?

We live in a world where an increase in the standard of living does not mean a linear increase in its perceived quality. This is due, on the one hand, to events of a global nature and their impacts (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the risk of its expansion). On the other hand, a higher standard of living can both increase expectations of its ultimate comfort, as well as reduce training opportunities for coping strategies.

The latter can translate into less psychological resilience and a greater tendency to worry (even without clear causes for concern). These factors may translate into more people postponing parenthood.

The changes taking place in the world — related to economic, climatic and political instability — do not remain indifferent to what we think, what we feel and what we do. The dominant concerns about the future of the world, which are present in social dialogue, can be reflected in what happens to people.

For people at different stages of development, this can have slightly different consequences. Young people who are at the stage of building their own identity will react differently than those in middle or late adulthood. This is related to other developmental tasks, but also to generational styles, which naturally change.

Global crises can intensify social anxiety, and this translates into fearful or hostile interpretations of observed phenomena. We can use the metaphor of a mirror here — the external world is reflected in our internal world, and vice versa. This can lead to distortions, multiplications and reinforcement of dominant tendencies.

Generationally, we also influence each other, both in a given generation and between generations. This complexity of the context in which we live, with increasing awareness of psychological mechanisms, may cause a different approach to values, ways of making decisions or carrying out life tasks.

We are already observing this — young people may decide differently, not only due to technological progress and observed threats, but also greater knowledge about the functioning of the individual.

Are there any psychological interventions or strategies that could help individuals manage future anxiety and make more confident decisions about parenthood?

Fear of the future, like other types of fear, can be associated with both personality predispositions and external conditions (e.g., climate, economy, politics). The intensity of fear of the future may therefore result from the interaction of individual predispositions and current or anticipated events.

In a sense, one strengthens the other. And so, if we have a predisposition to fear of the future, then we will easily notice possible threats both in the field of our personal future and the future of the world. This happens because fear narrows the field of attention and causes us to analyze what we notice more deeply. We can use the analogy that we look at it through a magnifying glass, enlarge it, and this strengthens the fear.

If we wanted to focus on interventions and strategies for dealing with fear of the future in the context of delayed parenthood, then the use of interventions from the area of cognitive-behavioral approach seems justified. For instance, strategies for:

• Recognizing the sources of personal fear of the future;
• Identifying and modifying beliefs about oneself, others or the world;
• Developing the ability to see opportunities, not just threats;
• Looking from different perspectives. For instance, "How will I relate to my current decisions from 10 years into the future? How will I think? What will I feel?"

This type of approach can help uncover what it is that's stopping and individual from making the decision to become a parent, and how they can deal with it at a different stage of life.

For people who are unsure about having children, what advice would you give them based on your research?

In psychology, we don't usually give advice. We rather encourage reflection on what, for example, can make us fulfilled in life, what will make us feel happy.

We know that pleasure gives satisfaction for a moment. But, meaning in life — the realization of aspirations that are important to us, living in accordance with our values and the realization of our own potential — is what makes us happy throughout our lives.

We know that focusing on threats can stop us from making important decisions, and this, in turn, inhibits the development of our own potential. Therefore, strengthening in the process of taking on challenges, even those in which we are not fully certain about their success, can be important. Building courage to live and to pass on life — maybe we can reflect on this?

Moreover, before we decide whether we want to have a child, it's good to think about whether having the child is of value to us. If we identify that it is, we can think about how we could reconcile becoming a parent with the prospect of our development and asset building. In this context, it could be helpful to assess whether our current relationship is an appropriate, safe space to take on the role of parent.