O neuroticismo e a intolerância à incerteza impactam na decisão de ter ou não ter filhos?

Abstract

The reproductive success of individuals in a population in generating offspring is one of the pillars of evolution by natural selection. Although it is intuitive to think that people usually want to have children, it is observed that in the current environment a significant portion of people chooses not to have children. Among the multiple variables involved in this choice, individual differences play an important role. In the present study, we investigated how the trait of neuroticism and the intolerance of uncertainty are expressed among individuals who want and do not want to have children. Initially, it was found that neuroticism and uncertainty intolerance are strongly related. Still, regardless of gender, people who do not wish to have children express more traits of neuroticism. When the analysis is made with the separation by sex, men who do not want to have children show more neuroticism and intolerance to uncertainty than men who want to have children. This difference was not verified concerning women. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of how some individual differences play a role in the multifaceted and complex choice of not having children.