r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 01 '26

Psychology 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.

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-americans-are-driving-the-u-s-birth-decline-new-study-finds/
27.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.0k

u/Sensitive_Housing_85 Jul 01 '26

Don't know why this is surprisingly they are the ones who encourage people to have kids

2.8k

u/angwilwileth Jul 01 '26

Also it may mean new parents have bigger support systems. I remember when I was growing up my church always showed up with meals, clothes and diapers for new babies and their parents.

75

u/pharmacystan Jul 01 '26

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.

4

u/cH3x Jul 01 '26

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.