Monday 13 August 2012

2010 survey by Charlotte EW Kitchen (supervised BG Charlton)

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Methods

Internet questionnaire survey of British Mormons recruited mainly from Faceboook and UKLDS.com plus advertisements placed on lds.org.uk.

175 subjects participated, 106 female and 69 male. Mean age was 36 years old (SD 14). Educational experience was an average of four years post-16.

Average occupational social class of subjects was high: Social class 1 (Professional jobs) 44%, Social class 2 (Managerial jobs, Teaching) 43%.

The questionnaire 1. Asked for demographic information, 2. Questions on marriage, family, children and related to religious devoutness. 3. Factors affecting family size/ numbers of children.

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Main Results

Mean number of children in whole sample - 2.2

Mean number of children in completed families (those aged over 45) - 3.8.

Average age of mother at time of first child - 24 years old

92% of the sample indicated they attended church one a week or more often.

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Family size in completed families - percentage of families (rounded figures)

With zero children - 7%
With one child - 6%
With two children - 11%
With three children - 22%
With four children - 20%
With five children 9%
With six children - 17%
With seven or more children - 8%

90% of 45 and older sample (98% of under 45s) believed it was acceptable to use contraception to control family size - 80% had planned their family size.

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Reasons for family size.

Subjects were asked to strongly agree/ agree, neither agree nor disagree/ disagree or strongly disagree with a series of statements.

85% of subjects DISAGREED (40% disagreed, 45% strongly disagreed) with the statement: "Mormons should have as many children as possible even if that means depending on government assistance.

52 % AGREED (30% agreed, 22 % strongly agreed) that : "Mormons should have as many children as they can afford to bring up well without financial assistance from others."

67%  AGREED (27% agreed, 40% strongly agreed) that: "I am motivated to have children because family relationships will continue after humans have died."

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