Para Effect of Education on Childbearing Postponement: a Qualitative Study among Female Students in Tehran Universities

Education is the most important determinant of timing of marriage and first birth. Women’s access to education was associated with a delay in family formation and childbearing. The basic question paper is how education affects women's fertility time. The data for this study were collected with qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with 25 married female students in Tehran in 1393. There are a number of reasons why female students tend to postpone childbearing. The findings show that the long years for educational activities, difficulty of combining student and mother roles, and economic and financial issues at the beginning of marriage lead to childbearing postponement. Increasing the level of education can improve the knowledge of women on effective contraception. In addition to postponement is associated with the fact that highly educated women have more likely decision-making power regarding childbearing timing, birth interval and number of children