Effect of Work–Family Conflict on Three-Child Fertility Intention of Working Women of Reproductive Age under the Background of Active Reproductive Support: The Moderating and Mediating Effects of Anxiety Disorders and Life Stress

Abstract

The declining fertility rate has become an important social problem. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between work–family conflict (WFC), life stress (LS), generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) and three-child fertility intention (FI) in working women of reproductive age. The data comes from the survey of the 2021 China Family Health Index Survey. The Mplus8.3 software was used to analyze the selected cases of 1103 female workers of childbearing age between 19 and 35 years old, and they all answered the relevant questions about the willingness to have three children. The results showed that work–family conflict had a significant negative impact on three-child fertility intention of working women of reproductive age (β = −0.188, p < 0.001), The mediating effect found that anxiety disorder had a significant mediating effect between work–family conflict and three-child fertility intention of working women of childbearing age. In addition, the effect between work–family conflict and the three-child fertility intention of working women of reproductive age can be mediated through the chain-mediated effect of Life stress and anxiety disorders. At the same time, the regulating effect also found that life stress can effectively regulate the effect of work–family conflict on anxiety disorders. Therefore, it is necessary to alleviate the conflict between work and family to a certain extent, including employers giving women more understanding and care and reducing gender discrimination. In addition, relatives should also provide substantial labor support in family life. They can also rely on the community to establish childcare services, improve student night care services, and reduce the time cost of female education. Thereby alleviating the life stress and anxiety of female employees of childbearing age and improving their willingness to bear children.