Study of Personality and Other Factors Related to Satisfaction with the Decision to Have Children

Do you have one or more children that you have lived with for at least one year? If so, we would very much appreciate your participation in this study!

 

About the Study:  

This research will help to discover what types of personality, background, and relationship factors are related to satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with the decision to have children. The results may be used to help people decide whether or not they wish to have children, and, if so, how many.

The researchers are Dr. Michael Mills,  an Associate Professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA., and and several of his students.

To participate, you will fill out a series of online surveys.  We would appreciate if the co-parent of the child(ren), either genetic or step-parents, would also complete the survey if they have lived in the same household as the child(ren) for at least one year.

Note that you will not be given any feedback regarding your answers to the questions, so the results of the study won't provide any immediate tangible benefit to you as a participant.  However, as noted above, your participation in this study may help research scientists discover what factors are related to satisfaction with the decision to have children.   If you wish, you may request that a summary of the aggregated, statistical findings to be emailed to you when the research is completed.

$100 Cash Draw.   At the end of the study, one person  will be randomly selected and will receive $100 for their participation.

Interested? If you are interested in participating in this study, please read over the rest of this page carefully and then press the "continue" button at the bottom.

What You Have To Do To Participate: To participate in this study, we ask that you and fill out two sets of online questionnaires. The first set should take  about 15 - 20 minutes.   The second set of questions will take about an additional 20 - 35 minutes.    If you wish, you may finish the second section at a later time.

Important: It is important that you complete your questionnaires alone and in private without consulting with your partner or your children. There are no right or wrong answers, and we encourage you to not to think about the questions too long. Usually the first thing you think of is the best answer for you.   After you are finished with the survey, it is important that you shut down your web browser so that your responses won't be accessible by anyone else who presses the "Back" button of your browser.

Password: The survey consists of several sections, and will be linked together using a "password" that you choose.  If  the co-parent  has not yet completed the survey, please think of a password that both you and the co-parent can easily remember.   It might be the name of a pet, a postal code, a vacation spot, etc.  It should be a continuous series of letters and/or numbers, with no spaces.  (However, please do not use the word "password" as your password!)  This password will be used to identify each individual across the survey sections, as well as each set of co-parents.  Write down the password and give it to the co-parent if they will also be completing this survey.  

Both you and the co-parent should enter the same password at the end of each survey section.  

If the co-parent  has already completed the survey, please ask him or her for the password that they used.

The Study Is Voluntary and Confidential Participation in this study is strictly voluntary. You may choose not to answer any particular questions, and you are free to discontinue at any time. Some of the questions are of a personal nature and ask about how you feel about yourself, your children, and the co-parent of your children. There is a small risk that completing the questionnaires will arouse some negative feelings.  We encourage you to talk to a counselor, or someone you feel close to,  if you feel upset afterwards. 

You will not be asked to give your name. Your email address will be used to contact you at some point in the future only to see if you are interested in volunteering to complete a brief follow up survey or to contact you regarding the $100 cash draw.

Your email address will not be disclosed to anyone other than the researchers conducting the study and will be destroyed once the study is completed. Once we receive your responses, they will be assigned a number code and your email address will be kept separately from the completed questionnaires. You will not be identified in connection with the results of the study. No individual responses from this study will be published. In short, every effort has been made to ensure your privacy.

However, if you still have any concerns about your privacy, you may opt to omit your email address (but in this case we will be unable to contact you should you be randomly  selected for the $100 cash draw).

Questions Or Comments? Should you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the project, they may be addressed to Dr. Michael Mills at mmills@lmu.edu.  Or, you may contact the Chair of the Human Subjects Review Board at Loyola Marymount University:  Dr. Stephen Scheck at sscheck@lmu.edu

Ready? If you are ready to start the questionnaires, please click the icon below.  

Note: If you are returning to complete the 2nd part of the survey, click here.
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