First reproductive experience: a survey module

Experiencing reproductive problems such as infertility and miscarriage becomes more common withage and can be a barrier to having children, especially if first births are delayed. This module on thefirst reproductive experience aims to enhance our understanding of women’s and men’s reproductiverealities today. Collecting survey items on the first reproductive experience enables researchers toidentify the reproductive issues women and men face, the ways in which they respond or tackle thesechallenges including infertility treatments, and the consequences for different aspects of their lives,including mental health, relationship stability and family size. It also allows researchers to chart theage at which people start trying to have a child and to quantify the incidence of reproductive difficultyin different settings. Finally, by asking about the age at or time between events (trying, conceiving,giving birth), it is possible to estimate success rates according to the age at which the person first triedto conceive a child, an important contribution to human reproduction research for which we currentlylack data. Adding a module on the first reproductive experience to cross-sectional and panel familysurveys that already contain basic information on fertility will help to integrate the studies ofreproductive and demographic events and fill important gaps in knowledge about reproductive healthin countries with later fertility.