Long-term impact of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster on confidence in giving birth or caring for a child: a stratified analysis by family structure and prefecture

In March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered the release of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This event impacted residents in Fukushima prefecture and surrounding areas and caused significant public health concerns. This study aims to determine whether current reproductive intentions among Japanese parents are related to long-term perceptions of health risks from radiation. The analysis uses data from an online survey conducted in 2018 among 620 Japanese adults, 310 of whom were living in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the 2011 disaster. We investigated levels of confidence in giving birth and caring for a child by categorising survey respondents based on their current family structure and reproductive intentions. We also examined how radiation risk perception mediates the relationship between place of residence and confidence in giving birth or caring for a child. Among the four subgroups, those who neither had children nor intended to have children were most concerned about caring for a child, regardless of place of residence. Conversely, among those who had children and also had further reproductive intentions, those living in Fukushima at the time of the disaster reported the highest confidence in both giving birth and caring for a child. Additionally, we found that the association between place of residence and parental confidence in giving birth was mediated by perceived genetic health risk. This finding implies the need to tailor radiation risk-related information to address concerns about genetic health effects for couples preparing for parenthood in regions not directly impacted by the disaster in the long term.