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Most Scots of child-bearing age would prefer to have at least two children. No less than 86% say the ideal number of children to have in a family is two or more. More than a third, (36%), would prefer three or more, according to research.

But those who share household duties equally with their spouse or partner are less likely to want three or more children. Only 31% in this group say they would like three or more children, compared with 42% of those who live in households where one partner - usually the woman - does most of the housework.

The Scottish Social Attitudes survey has been studying the attitudes to having children held by men and women of child-bearing age. Designed to examine why Scotland’s birth rate is so low, initial results of the study were presented at a seminar held in Edinburgh University.

The great majority, over 90%, of people in this age group think household duties should be shared equally between partners. But only 37% of men and just 22% of women reckon this is what happens in their household at the moment. No less than 58% of men admit their partner does most of the housework, while 77% of women claim to do so.

Other apparent pressures on family size also emerge from the survey:

50% agree that most couples cannot afford more than two children

63% agree that it is difficult for both partners to work if they have more than two children

61% agree that an only child can be just as happy as one with brothers and sisters

11% of all Scots think that mothers of pre-school children should not work

Dr Fran Wasoff of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships and one of the researchers of the study said, ‘The Scottish Social Attitudes survey clearly shows that the low Scottish birth rate is not because the ideal family size of both men and women of childbearing age is low. Our initial analysis suggests that how many children people actually have is linked to how they share household duties and how they meet the demands of balancing work and childcare.”

The Scottish Centre for Social Research is part of the National Centre for Social Research, Britain’s largest independent social research institute. The Scottish Social Attitudes survey is a high quality independent annual survey conducted by the Scottish Centre for Social Research. In 2005 it interviewed between July and December a random sample of 1,549 adults aged 18 plus resident in Scotland. Most of the figures quoted in this release are based on the answers given by 781 people of child bearing age: that is women aged 18-44 and men aged 18-49. The study on fertility included on the 2005 survey was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in collaboration with the Scottish Executive, and is being directed by researchers from Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s universities.

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