The aims of this study are to investigate influences on the family size preferences and current family size of parents of one to three children, as well as whether they perceive their family as being completed or not. One hundred and two parents participated in this study. The subjects were obtained through word of mouth, contacting childcare centres and advertising. Each subject completed the Family Size Questionnaire and the Childbearing Questionnaire. The Family Size Questionnaire was developed by the researcher and contained questions on the subjects' family size preferences and their own families. The Childbearing Questionnaire (W. Miller, 1994) consists of two sections which measure positive and negative childbearing motivation.

The results of this study showed that older subjects want more children than younger subjects, parents with more siblings want more children than those with fewer siblings, and the more children parents currently have, the more children they want. Parents with high positive childbearing motivation want more children, as do those with low negative childbearing motivation. Older subjects had higher current family sizes, as did those who were younger when they had their first child. Parents with high positive childbearing motivation are more likely to be completing their families. Higher education levels and wanting fewer children predicted having completed one's family.

Current family size and desired family size may continue to influence each other once childbearing has begun. Traditionally important variables in the area of fertility were not found to influence family size preferences in this sample. This may be related to the possibility that family sizes are decreasing because people are weighing up the advantages and disadvantages more closely on an individual basis. Traditional ideas of what constitutes a family seem to be changing.