Pregnancy is apparently contagious

Pregnancies have a contagious effect on female colleagues, according to a study by the scientists led by Prof. Dr. med. Henriette Engelhardt-Wölfler, Head of the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg. The study analyzed the data of more than 42,000 women from almost 7,600 farms.

28/11/2012

For a long time it has been known that certain behavior in the circle of friends and acquaintances are taken over. The colloquially used term „peer pressure“ describes in a simple way this widespread phenomenon. The scientists of the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg (ifb) now have in the study „Are births contagious? Fertility and social interaction in the workplace“ investigates whether women's tendency to become pregnant for the first time increases after a colleague gives birth to a child. The analysis of the data from the years 1993 to 2007 showed „a significant contagion effect in the year following a birth event of a colleague“, write Engelhardt-Wölfler and colleagues. For example, the tendency to become pregnant for the first time was almost twice as high during this period.

Interaction with pregnant colleagues strengthens the desire to have children
According to the scientists of the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg speak the current „Results show that contagion of fertility at the workplace is both on-demand and persuasion-mediated.“ The interaction with the pregnant female colleagues and / or their newborns strengthens both the desire to have children and the self-confidence of having children, explains Engelhardt-Wölfler and colleagues. „Almost all women are currently working before the birth of their first child. Experiencing how women colleagues successfully shape the transition to motherhood can inspire their own desire for children“, commented the Bavarian Family Minister Christine Haderthauer the study result. The contagion effect was seen after a pregnancy in the college not only in the first year, but also in subsequent years - but fell significantly with increasing time interval. The highest was the contagious effect of pregnancy in colleagues who were approximately the same age (age difference of a maximum of two years).

Pregnancy as a chain reaction among colleagues
The current study shows, „that working women who choose to have a child can cause a kind of chain reaction among their colleagues“, report the scientists of the State Institute for Family Research. They see in their work a significant contribution to the discussion about the low birth rate in Germany and the contagion effects of pregnancies in different networks, such as the family, the circle of friends or at work. A better understanding of these contagion effects in the different networks offers, according to the researchers, a promising approach to increase the birth rates again in the future significantly. „Social policy measures aimed at improving the work-life balance could have a particularly strong fertility potential due to such social multiplier effects“, write Engelhardt-Wölfler and colleagues. (Fp)

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Picture: JMG