Impact of Social and Political Instability on Fertility Intentions, Attitudes and Behavior (Empirical Evidence of Demographic Dynamics in the USSR/Russia)

Yuri Frantsuz, University of Minnesota

Impact of societal instability and crisis on fertility intentions, attitudes and behavior is yet to be analyzed and researched. Its effect on fertility is obvious, however the direction and scope of the impact largely remains unknown. During recent economic crisis in Iceland, for instance, fertility has increased dramatically while at times of economic hardship at the Eastern European coutnries in the 1990s the birth rates went down. Most of researchers have studied the impact of economic instabilities or natural or man-made catastrophes on fertility attitudes, intentions and outcomes. In this paper I present the results of the study of mostly social and political instabilities on fertility intentions, attitudes and behavior. I incorporate the advanced version of uncertainty reduction theory and apply it to the analysis of fertility dynamics in USSR/Russia at the periods of both stability and various types of social and political instability.