Assessing behavioral determinants of fertility decisions: development and validation of the Fertility under Future Concerns Scale (FFCS)

Fertility and reproductive behavior are increasingly shaped by future-oriented uncertainties that extend beyond immediate economic conditions to include socio-political instability and perceived individual readiness for parenthood. Although recent studies acknowledge the influence of such anticipatory concerns on fertility decisions, existing measurement tools are either fragmented, focused on single domains, or restricted to specific populations. The absence of a validated, multidimensional instrument capable of capturing these interrelated future concerns in the general population has limited empirical research as well as policy- and practice-oriented assessment. This study therefore aimed to develop and validate the Fertility under Future Concerns Scale (FFCS) as a comprehensive tool for assessing behavioral and psychosocial drivers of fertility decisions. A sequential psychometric design was applied with two independent adult samples from Türkiye (n = 225 for EFA, n = 552 for CFA). An initial 40-item pool was refined through expert review and pilot testing, and reduced to 12 items across three dimensions: Socio-Political Concerns, Economic Security Concerns, and Individual Readiness Concerns. Analyses included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability tests (Cronbach’s α, McDonald’s ω, composite reliability), and validity assessments (AVE, HTMT). The three-factor model demonstrated excellent psychometric properties, with strong fit indices (CFI = 0.964, TLI = 0.952, RMSEA = 0.081, SRMR = 0.029) and high reliability across subscales and the overall scale. The FFCS is the first validated instrument to comprehensively measure future-related concerns shaping reproductive behavior. By integrating socio-political, economic, and individual dimensions, the scale offers a novel behavioral framework for fertility specialists, demographers, and reproductive health researchers to examine fertility decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and perceived future risk. The FFCS is grounded in the Turkish context and provides a robust foundation for investigating fertility-related concerns in settings characterized by comparable socio-political and economic conditions.