Maternity Age in the Context of the Value of Time

Abstract

Rapid changes in society require quick individual adaptation to such changes. Under these conditions, the value of time increases. Awareness of this process becomes the basis for the formation of attitudes to a certain sequence of important events in human life and time / age for their implementation. It requires the development of time competence of the person not only at the level of daily practices and professional responsibilities, but also at the life level (whole course of life). The purpose of our study is to find out the relationship between advancing maternal age trend and awareness of the value of time and the development of time competence of the individual. The study for the first time considers the value of time and the development of time competence of the individual as a significant factor in change of the age of the mother at the birth of a child. Such scientific methods as comparison, analysis, generalization, graphic method are used in the paper. The analysis uses the materials of the international European Social Survey (ESS) of the third (2006—2007) and ninth (2018) rounds, which included the same module on the study of human life cycle organization. The theoretical basis of the study is the energy concept of psychological time, according to which personal time includes its energy component. The article analyzes the changesbet ween the 3rd and 9th rounds of the ESS in respondents’ perceptions regarding the age when a woman is generally too young to become a mother; the age whenwoman is generally too old to consider having any more children; the ideal age for a girl or woman to become a mother. The shift of these age characteristics towards older age groups in almost all countries participating in the 3rd and 9th rounds of the ESS is revealed. The precise answers of most respondents about the ideal age for a woman to become a mother — and thus to move to a new stage of her life — indicate the existence of personal time competence on the scale of life. It also shows that responsibility for choice of time (age) for the birth of a child / childrenmoves to the family or individual level (and this was mostly possible due to the development of family planning). In addition, the person is also responsible for the use of time before the birth of the child. Such processes reflect the awareness of the value of time, and simultaneously, further enhance its value.