The significance of financial incentives in the motivation for having a large family: A qualitative study

This study aims to identify the role of financial motives among the motivational and value orientations that shape people’s decisions to have a large family. It draws on focus group discussions with parents of large families in Yekaterinburg, divided into two groups: Generation 1 (those who became parents of large families before the introduction of maternity capital in 2007; N = 14; 8 women and 6 men) and Generation 2 (those who became parents of large families after 2007; N = 15; 8 women and 7 men). The interview guide covered motivation, drivers behind the decision to have a large family, and the influence of financial factors on reproductive choice. The working hypothesis was that the introduction of maternity capital had reshaped the hierarchy of motives: Generation 1 was expected to be driven primarily by sociocultural values, while for Generation 2 financial factors were expected to gain importance without displacing value-normative attitudes. The results show that the motivation for having a large family is driven primarily by value-normative attitudes and social-relational drivers rather than by an orientation toward financial benefits from state support. Both generations exhibited a similar set of key motives: an intentional orientation toward having a large family; the influence of positive examples of large families in older generations; the desire to create a family; and the expectation that siblings will support one another. Intergenerational differences in the structure of motivation proved insignificant. At the same time, gender-specific features were recorded: men less often report planning for a large family, which reflects different perceptions of planning and a reliance on the woman’s reproductive readiness; they also more often emphasize the effect of “renewal of parental energy” at the birth of a child. Women, in turn, stress entering a new marriage, the fulfillment of parental love, and the enrichment of the motherhood experience. Future research could assess the institutional effect of maternity capital by comparing one-child and two-child families before and after 2007, shedding light on how motivational structures evolve and how support measures shape reproductive decisions.