What impels us to parenthood – how personality traits predict our willingness of becoming parents?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between childbearing motives and Big Five personality traits; and to explore personality structure of people with positive, negative and ambivalent attitude to have children. A group of N = 281 adults took part in the online survey. We used hierarchical cluster analysis to distinguish three groups reflecting different attitudes to parenting, which were significantly different from each other, both in terms of childbearing motives and personality traits. Through correlation analysis we demonstrated that in the group of man positive parental motives are related to higher level of extraversion and agreeableness; while in the group of ambivalent-oriented women we reported positive relationship of negative childbearing motives and neuroticism. The results lead us to the conclusion that the level of positive and negative childbearing motives is partly a consequence of personality traits, what in turn finds its explanation in motivational base of both constructs.