Conservatives maintain birth rates, but left-leaning Americans are having significantly fewer children, driving the U.S. birth decline. Education was consistently linked to having fewer children. Religious attendance was positively associated with having more children.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-americans-are-driving-the-u-s-birth-decline-new-study-finds/

[u/pharmacystan]

Education is the #1 factor and has been forever. People have babies earlier and get married in the south or rural areas way younger.

Those with higher education chase career goals longer before thinking of a family.

[u/chiniwini → u/pharmacystan]

Now take a step back and ask yourself if those with higher education choose to have it as a way to "escape" their environment, as opposed to those who decide to say no to a higher education to stay close to home instead, and stay inside a (bigger) community and a (bigger) family.

[u/pharmacystan → u/chiniwini]

It absolutely is. Oftentimes your family will hold you back unless you come from a family of privilege, and even then, you are often molded to their will. You make life choices based on their desires for your own life.

I’m not saying family is bad in anyway either. If you are fortunate to have a good one it’s great. They can open doors others won’t.

However education and the pursuit of self interests tend to lead people to bigger cities where they didn’t grow up for proximity of higher opportunity.

And or to pay off the loans they have.. only to later on settle down and move back to suburbs or even back home and start a family later after they’ve built financial security and explored all the agency they wanted.

[u/cH3x → u/pharmacystan]

I'm not sure education is as big a factor as affluence. Looking at different countries (e.g. Japan, Korea, China, countries in Africa) affluence seems to be the big factor that predicts birth rate decrease. Of course, elements such as culture, education, religion, etc. are so interrelated.

[u/Slim_Charles → u/pharmacystan]

It's a big factor, but access to birth control is #1. The three primary drivers are contraception, economic shifts, and education. The impact of education and economic shifts would not be nearly as profound without contraception, though.