A recent study published in Scientific Reports suggests that political beliefs are increasingly linked to the number of children Americans choose to have. The findings indicate that while conservative individuals tend to maintain birth rates near historical averages, left-leaning individuals are having significantly fewer children. This demographic trend provides evidence that differing birth rates are a main driver of recent fertility declines in the United States.
The data revealed a pronounced change in how political beliefs relate to family size. For individuals born in the early 1900s, political orientation had almost no association with the number of children they had. However, beginning with the cohort born between 1943 and 1947, a massive divergence emerged.
“We expected these results, but not to such a dramatic extent,” Fieder told PsyPost. From the mid-century cohorts onward, individuals with right-wing political views maintained birth rates at or slightly above the replacement level. The replacement level, typically considered to be 2.1 children per woman, is the rate needed for a population to replace itself from one generation to the next without immigration.
In contrast, the birth rates of left-wing individuals dropped sharply, falling well below the replacement level in the more recent cohorts. The authors noticed this drop aligns with historical changes in family planning. “We found that the gap began with the introduction of modern contraception,” Fieder said.
wait, so you’re saying milking people for ALL the cash is causing people to not be able to afford… kids? Wow. I mean, this is a shock. A shock i tell you.
I feel so guilty for having my kids. In all my life I never expected this to be reality. I hope they forgive me.
People have been having children in terrible conditions for a long, long time. I like to focus on the small joys when I start to feel this way about having kids.
Remember the joy you see on their faces when you’re spending time with them. Celebrate their cleverness and their love. Focus on building your real community around you for them and for yourself. Help neighbors. Grow plants. Reconnect with the good parts of life.
We all make decisions with what we know at the time. It’s easy to beat ourselves up when we have more information and wisdom than we did before.
Very kind of you to say, thank you.
G O O D G O O D G O O D G O O D
1.There’s too many people on this planet 2. They won’t give us even the basic amount of respect 3. Less people to take care of those who caused these issues
Yes yes we all have seen Idiocracy.
This sounds like the study was funded by anti abortion losers. Contraception isn’t the problem, its billionaires, lobbyists, and politicians making it utterly unaffordable and morally wrong in multiple ways, but only left leaning people would even consider holding back on having children based on how much suffering they would guarantee their own children by merely giving birth to them.
conservatives think people should have more children and the study finds they do in fact have more children. i don’t see what the problem is here
Also correlation is not causation. People living in denser cities both tend to lean left and have a higher cost of living, which makes a family less practical. People living in rural areas tend to lean right, have a lower cost of living, and live closer to more family, which makes starting a family of their own much easier.
According to the research I’ve seen most people don’t have kids because they don’t want to have kids. Significant amount also can’t afford it. Everything else (like worrying about wars, climate change, healthcare etc.) is not that significant.
True, if anything, there are a lot of people who have kids and wish they didn’t.
“People having kids and wishing they didn’t” is due to a lack of options, social pressure, ostracism for choosing abortion, the stigma of remaining childless, and a whole bunch of propaganda.
People choosing not to have kids because they don’t want them is a relatively modern lifestyle.
For most of history, people having kids wasn’t so much a choice as it was something that happened to them.
People have kids because making kids is super fun.
It is still happening I hear
Unless you are being willfully obtuse, you either misread or ignored the intent of my comment.
How long before we are just mass growing babies in petri dishes and decanting bottles on an assembly line like brave new world?
That’s way more expensive than forcibly impregnating imprisoned women. Once we put all these psycho lefties into the camps, there will be plenty of worthless childless women who can be put to work restocking our wage-slave peasant numbers. They’re currently working on the means by which to round them up. We got official “trump derangement syndrome” diagnoses in the works. We got impossibly high prices on everything, which forces people to do crimes of survival. Anyone saying any left wing thoughts can be imprisoned for life on terrorism charges. They already started doing the life imprisonment for people who have ever written down anything left of center, but they’re still working on forced identification of everyone on the internet. Once the “age verification” shit gets worked out and they know exactly who posted what, it’ll be super easy to round up all the lefties.
Eventually the only escape will be suicide. If it came down to it, I’d end things on my terms rather than be enslaved to be a baby maker.
We need to invoke the second amendment before that can happen. We need people for the revolution
Considering the attack on IVF, I don’t think that’s what conservatives have in mind for the solution to this supposed problem.
Yeah they clearly plan on the easier, cheaper, and more vile option: forcing pregnancy onto people via denial of access to contraceptives
Who Wants to Grow a Baby?
Pilot episode.
“Joel, you’ve had some experience in this arena before. Willing to let us know where Sample 1 stands?”
“Sure, Candy!”
sip sip sip
swish swish swish
spit
“This semen has a smoky flavour, but not from the test tube it was stored in. It’s more acrid, and heavy with PFSAs than you’d expect, leading me to conclude it comes from the southern Arizona region. Historically, sibling pairing has been noted in that area, and this drop doesn’t do anything to disabuse me of the notion the donor is, indeed, the offspring of brother and sister. All in all, a fairly inexpensive affair, but still unable to justify the price tag. One to be avoided, I think”.
i think it’d be more akin to the kriegsmen being mass produced in iron wombs ala 40k, personally.
Also, the lack of Pirates causes climate change: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/03/23/true-fact-the-lack-of-pirates-is-causing-global-warming/
Isnt this one of the beliefs of Pastafarians?
The data shows that belief in pastafarianism is caused by understanding the difference between correlation and causation.
Are you trying to make a point that correlation does not equal causation? Cause I have been scratching my head wondering what your comment has to do with the current discussion in this thread.
Yes. To quote the Forbes article:
So, when someone proposes a cause and effect relationship between two things - reduction in pirates causing global warming; Obama creating the global economic crisis; young people ruining American business - ask for the data that shows they’re related, rather than simply that they’re happening at the same time.
Translation: people who recognize this shit sucks and don’t want to inflict it upon a child happen to be leftists.
The descent into Idiocracy has begun.
We’ve been in the idiocracy for decades, what else is new?
Right? Like, I understand not wanting to have kids, it’s not that it’s an irrational decision. But that’s the whole point of the intro to Idiocracy. If only irrational people are pumping out kids, it’s only a few generations before the population is composed entirely of the irrational and their kids.
Take it to the next step then - what option other than allowing women to have the choice do we have?
I’m not convinced to start stripping women of their right to choose because we might become a plot of a movie.
This is a manufactured problem being used to control women.
Why do you think abortion is illegal again in some states in the US?
Because having a kid gives people a lot of leverage over you. Suddenly, you need to think twice about leaving a shit job or a shit spouse or a shit anything else.
That’s true, but women should still be allowed to choose that for themselves.
Having a kid can also be motivation to leave those situations.
Uh, I think you’ve radically misconstrued my point.
I’m asking you clarifying questions.
Not really? I didn’t say anything about what people should or shouldn’t be allowed to do. Obviously women should have the autonomy to not have children if they so choose. I’m just observing that, like with every choice, there are consequences.
Children born to conservative parents arent doomed to be conservative the rest of their lives.
I don’t like this insinuation that it’s women’s fault if conservatives (correction: the “irrational”) take over because they are choosing to not have children.
I know many children of conservative parents, and many of them are, in fact, conservative. Not that they’ve given it much thought. Still, it contributes to a rightward trend.
But when did I say anything about anything being anyone’s “fault”? Again, you’re misconstruing my point.
This is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgenics, which has repetitively been empirically refuted.
Implies that right wing parents will necessarily have right wing children. Nothing spooks kids out of becoming right wing like having to live and deal with narcissistic hypocrisy up close daily. Kids are not a reflection of their parents, they are a reaction to their parents.
My parents are life-long Republicans. Triple Trumpers. They aren’t the flag waving MAGAs or anything insane, they just fully believe all the decades of propaganda like “vote R if you believe in freedom and law and order and the working man. And Democrats are all insane evil people that think schools should have litter boxes in class.” or whatever the shit all is.
I’m very Leftist or Progressive or whatever you wanna call me.
It is SO DAMN FRUSTRATING talking to them about anything at all that is even tangentially related to a hot political take. You can visibly observe the “Thought Stopping Cliche” kicking in and any further discussion is over.
It really is the hypocrisy. You question things like “pro life” and how statistically more women and babies die due to medical neglect and very preventable issues with abortion being demonized and a legal issue. If you keep pushing you eventually hit the wall of the hypocrisy where they really don’t care about all the deaths because “it’s just wrong and if people die it’s their fault” as if people are lining up to get medical abortions for funzies.
And on and on. You point out the facts and statistics of how detrimental a conservative policy is and it’s always met with victim blaming, whataboutism, straw men and all the other cliches.
That, among all the other things, and just paying attention and giving a damn about other people pushed me further and further left.
my father and SO dad are fanatics. We could not be more different. I hate them sooo much.
Yet I know a (edit: right-wing) Mormon young adult who speaks and acts exactly like his (edit: right-wing) Mormon father who is a narcissistic hypocrite. Sometimes they are a direct reflection – usually due to brainwashing from birth, as is done with most religionist families.
My point was that its not at all a guarantee, or even good odds. You can’t assume the political alignment of someone by who their parents are. A singular counterexample isn’t what you’re looking for. That person could even have estranged siblings, did you ask about that?
You stated “Kids are not a reflection of their parents, they are a reaction to their parents.” as an absolute, not as a statistic. Perhaps you meant otherwise, and if so, no worries and I concede the point.
I get your sentiment. I find it optimistic, actually, and hope that the human race continues to become considerably more skeptical of any dogmatic ideologies, rejects them, and lives their life in peace. I have taught my own child to think for themself, that while I may have my own notions about things, they should do their own research and proper consideration of any given topic to form their own opinion. I, for one, have tried to do my part to instill such critical thinking.
By reaction, i mean the sum total of their relationship with their parents. Whether they were the golden child, spoiled, neglected, whatever. Parents very often treat one kid more favorably than the other, and that teaches certain lessons on accident. I don’t find it surprising that the golden child takes after their parents for example, but it doesn’t mean their less favored siblings did. And don’t count out the influence on teachers, who can also teach unintended lessons on accident.
I was replying to the main article that was like was sounding like this was an automatic W for right wingers, when its much more complicated than that.
If there’s evidence that kids are necessarily following their parents political beliefs, id like to see it. But i doubt it, because that would imply the age gap doesnt exist in politics.
So far, indicators for turning right wing have to do with personality elements like fear of new things. Thats not necessarily a nature-by-birth thing - life experience influences this, drug exposure, and so on. Id argue that humans in childhood are predisposed to like exploring new things and then something happens for them to unlearn it.
I also dont take it as a optimist thing. I think its more of an always and forever thing about humans. Its impossible to genocide right wingedness out of the population, and still impossible to do the other way around. Because humans adapt to the life they’re given, and not to the life that their parents think they’re giving them.
I went Left of my Republican parents, and my son is even more Left than me.
In truth, I didn’t reject my parent’s politics, I just developed my own, using my Critical Thinking Skills, something I noticed that Conservatives aren’t good at. They have to be told what to believe, because what they’re told to believe doesn’t make sense, and nobody with decent Critical Thinking Skills would come to Conservative conclusions…unless they were Sociopathic and Corrupt.
But that’s actually true. Most red states keep being red, most red areas stay red. If what you said was true, states would change party every generation
People move, all the time. Often to where opportunities are. California wasn’t always the most populous state. Carpetbaggers, gold rush, dust bowl, and so on and so forth. Take a look at historical election maps. Geography isn’t a good measure for this idea as you’re introducing a whole lot of other variables that aren’t related.
Or the kids left never to return. Its why halmark made so many city girl return home movies. It appeals to that demographic.
How would that reasoning apply to the Trumps?
necessarily
adverb
nec·es·sar·i·ly ˌne-sə-ˈser-ə-lē
1 : of necessity : unavoidably, The audience was necessarily small. This endeavor necessarily involves some risk.
2 : as a logical result or consequence … a holocaust is a disaster, but a disaster is not necessarily a holocaust.— Harry Shaw
I was more commenting on this part:
they are a reaction to their parents
I went further right and more religious than my already-fairly-right-wing and christian parents. Sometime in my 20s I boomeranged the opposite direction. Had I not had certain people in my life and had the internet been what it is now when I was young, I’m not sure I would have turned out the same way.
This is what happened to me too. More patience from acquaintances than I deserved (and seeing people who I considered friends unironically believe the depraved stuff on 4chan) started a leftwards pivot that continues to this day.
This type of shit is coming through I guess and blame always goes to opposition, and running party is having dozens 🎉 I mean they running 🏃
Don’t worry, Christians are capitalizing on widespread porn
addictionuse by suggesting men can reclaim their power by saving their valuable sperm inside their balls.This isn’t a joke.
Edit: I used addiction wrong, porn use can be associated with sex based compulsivity but is not indicative of an addiction.
Thank you for bringing this up!
Science Stopped Believing in Porn Addiction, You Should, Too
Over recent years, numerous studies have begun to suggest that there is more to the story than just porn. Instead, we’ve had growing hints that the conflicts and struggles over porn use have more to do with morality and religion, rather than pornography itself. I’ve covered this surge of research in numerous posts and articles.
Now, researchers have put a nail in the coffin of porn addiction. Josh Grubbs, Samuel Perry, and Joshua Wilt are some of the leading researchers on America’s struggles with porn, having published numerous studies examining the impact of porn use, belief in porn addiction, and the effect of porn on marriages. And Rory Reid is a UCLA researcher who was a leading proponent in gathering information about the concept of hypersexual disorder for the DSM-5. These four researchers, all of whom have a history of neutrality, if not outright support of the concepts of porn addiction, have conducted a meta-analysis of research on pornography and concluded that porn use does not predict problems with porn, but that religiosity does.
Right, I misused addiction — but my point still stands. Christians are trying to convince young men that life force is stored in the balls, and jerking off diminishes that life force.
Oh I’m agreeing with you :)
The article I linked supports your comment about Christians pushing that porn addiction is a thing.
I never understood that line of thought. If you need to “hold onto your life source” then get a vasectomy.
No that cuts off the life force, you need to allow it to gestate in the fertile seeds that are the balls.
I hate that I had these thoughts.
Somebody posted to Asklemmy the other day on the subject who wasn’t christian but instead referenced an islamic background.
Well Evangelists would love for Christianity to be more like Islam, so that tracks.
Let me guess before I open: The intro to idiocracy?
Edit: Gotta love it
Great. It’s being posted in more places.
Hypothetical, polarized fantasy.
Every quote from the actual science is about how it is only correlation. Nothing factual or remotely concrete.
Another over-hyped nothing burger.
Get snipped guys! It’s easy. If you’re fertile and you think you know what freedom means, you don’t.
