Conceptualization of Factors Affecting Child Planning in Indian Society

This study was calibrated to explore the attitudes and beliefs of married and soon to marry individuals regarding Child Planning and Rearing. An attempt was made to gauge the Subjective Meanings and Visualisations of Parenthood, Waiting Periods and Perceived Barriers to Parenthood by interviewing 2 females and 1 male residing in Kolkata and one male residing in Shillong. Initial and focused coding was performed on the interview transcripts and further triangulation was utilised to strengthen validity. These attitudes and beliefs were compartmentalised under Biological, Psychological and Socioeconomic domains since they ranged from Obesity or Hormonal Imbalance as Barriers to Child-Planning, the Need for Adequate Finances prior to Child-Planning, Mental-Preparedness and Self-Evaluation as Perceived Psychological Prerequisites to Parenthood and Familial/Societal Obligations in shaping Child-Planning or Rearing. Furthermore, the technique of triangulation was instrumental in establishing an audit trail, along with the interview schedule.