Psychometric Properties of Childbearing Questionnaire in Iranian Men and Women

Counseling services in Iran are required to understand the motivations for childbearing to provide better services. This study was conducted to investigate the confirmatory factor analysis of the Childbearing Questionnaire (CBQ) in Iranian men and women.

In this cross-sectional study, 398 married women of reproductive age (15-49 years of age) and 390 men, whose wives were at similar age were recruited. They were selected from Mashhad healthcare settings using multi-stage cluster sampling. The participants completed the CBQ. The reliability of the CBQ was assessed by test-retest and Cronbach's alpha. The validity of the scale was evaluated applying confirmatory factor analysis. SPSS V19 and Amos-21 were used for data analyses.

Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the test-retest reliability indicated satisfactory reliability of the CBQ in terms of positive childbearing motivation and negative childbearing motivation. The original model did not show acceptable fit. After removing eight factors with low loading and two correlated error terms, the modified model was found to have adequate fitness.

This study showed that some of the positive and negative motivations have changed due to cultural values of the Iranian society and are different compared with those of the western societies. This study supported the use of CBQ as a valid instrument in assessing childbearing motivations in Iran.