Fertility anxiety and associated factors among people aged 18–25 years: an analysis of data from the 2023 Chinese Psychology and Behavior Investigation

Objective To investigate fertility anxiety and influencing factors among Chinese residents aged 18–25 years.

Methods Data from 17 771 individuals in this age group were obtained from the 2023 Chinese Psychology and Behavior Investigation. The survey was administered in 800 communities and villages across 150 cities nationwide. Participants completed several questionnaires, including the General Information Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Family Health Scale (FHS), the Body Image Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (BI-AAQ), and the Perceived Social Support Scale-Short Form (PSSS-SF).

Results The average self-rated fertility anxiety score for all participants was 51.65 ± 33.65. Multiple linear regression analyses, stratified by gender and marital status, revealed that fertility anxiety was influenced by the following factors among subgroups: average monthly family income (β = 0.031), smoking (β = –0.027), overall family health (β = –0.046), and anxiety (β = 0.063) for males and ethnicity (β = –0.022), education (β = 0.028), and depression (β = 0.064) for females. For unmarried individuals, the influencing factors were gender (β = 0.124), education (β = 0.022), body mass index (BMI) (β = –0.027), overall family health (β = –0.023), and social support (β = –0.018). For unmarried individuals, the influencing factors were gender (β = 0.124), education (β = 0.022), BMI (β = –0.027), overall family health (β = –0.023), social support (β = –0.018), depression level (β = 0.047), health status (β = 0.030), and smoking (β = –0.016). For married individuals, the influencing factors were ethnicity (β = 0.113) and total body flexibility score (β = –0.225). All factors were statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusions Fertility anxiety among individuals aged 18–25 is influenced by demographic, psychological, and social factors. Key determinants include family income (males), depression (females), education/social support (unmarried), and ethnicity/body image flexibility (married).