printChildren in the Life Plans of Big City Students (the case of Nizhny Novgorod)
Egorova N.Yu.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof., Prof., Lobachevsky University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia nadegorova@yandex.ru
Zakharkina T.N.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof., Lobachevsky University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia zakharkina.tn@gmail.com
Yanak A.L.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Leading researcher, Assoc. Prof., Lobachevsky University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia alinayanak91@yandex.ru
Egorova N.Yu., Zakharkina T.N., Yanak A.L. Children in the Life Plans of Big City Students (the case of Nizhny Novgorod). Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 1. P. 115-127
The materials of a study of university and secondary professional education’ students in Nizhny Novgorod (2024), determine the place of children in their life plans through the prism of an analysis of life goals, family and reproductive attitudes, perception of parenthood, and the conditions of childbirth. The article also presents the results of an online survey of students in 2020. It is established that regardless of the importance of family and children, demonstrated a rejection from “сhild-centrism” and orientation to the “conjugal” model of the family (S. I. Golod): the high value of marital stability, quality of relationships, including when deciding on the birth of children. The authors found links with the respondent’s gender, level of education, attitude to religion, perception of financial situation, and family type. The conditions for the birth of a child/children are not limited only to financial opportunities – internal willingness to become a parent, confidence in the spouse, and coordination of opinions on the division of responsibilities are also important. Students whose reproductive plans are limited to one child or unwillingness to have children associate the appearance of children with the presence of a greater number of conditions, including coordination with long-term life plans and professional activities. The data allow us to conclude that it is potentially ineffective to use only economic measures to stimulate fertility, and emphasize the need to expand/develop non-material support of demographic (family) policy.
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