From Childless Intentions to Motherhood: Familial Pro‐Natalism Among Korean Middle‐Class Women

ABSTRACT

While literature often frames fertility decisions as individual economic choices, the subtle influence of kinship ties is underexplored. This study examines how married South Korean women, who initially intended to be childfree, later reconsider childbearing, influenced by extended kin networks. Drawing on five focus group discussions with 33 married Korean women who initially intended to remain childfree, we identify a shift toward childbearing driven by familial pro‐natalism through three forces: (1) heightened anxiety about reproductive capacity prompted by family interactions that emphasize biological urgency; (2) growing awareness of the symbolic significance of childbirth amid aging and mortality; and (3) the perception of childbirth as a means of strengthening the marital relationship. We argue that reproductive decisions are shaped by relational processes within neo‐traditional familism, not solely individual planning. These findings offer implications for understanding contemporary reproductive decision‐making at the intersection of individual agency, structural constraints, and enduring familial frameworks.