Washington: The phenomenon called “baby fever” - the physical and emotional desire to have a baby - is found in both men and women, according to a new study.
“Baby fever is this idea out in popular media that at some point in their lives, people get this sudden change in their desire to have children,” said Gary Brase, associate professor of psychology, who along with his wife, Sandra, a project coordinator with the university`s College of Education, spent nearly 10 years researching on the subject.
“While it is often portrayed in women, we noticed it in men, too,” he added.
“Although one hears about people having baby fever from friends, family and in the media, I was curious if there was a scientific explanation for the presence or lack of it in both women and men,” Sandra said.
While some research has looked at the demographic and sociological aspects of having children, there had been no previous study from a psychological perspective, she said.
The researchers started by applying three different theoretical viewpoints – wanting to about why baby fever might exist and where it came from.
The researchers then performed studies to understand people`s desires, particularly the desire to have a baby.
The researchers found several interesting results: First, that baby fever did exist and it existed in both genders. But, how frequently a desire for a baby occurred varied according to gender. Second, women more frequently desired having a child than having sex. Finally, men were the opposite and more frequently desired sex than having a child.
The study will be published in the journal Emotion.
ANI
