When To Have A Child? A New Approach To The Decision

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — Women seeking to balance career, social life and family life in making the decision on when to have a child may benefit from applying formal decision-making science to this complex emotional choice.

"This decision is too complex to logically consider all the relevant aspects intuitively in one's head," write Professor Ralph Keeney and doctoral student Dinah Vernik of Duke's Fuqua School of Business. "Yet, for many, it is too important and consequential to simply go with one's feelings."

The pair have demonstrated that using a formalized approach to this very personal decision may help a woman evaluate her options regarding the optimal time for her to attempt to conceive a first child.

Their analysis, which was published in the current issue of the journal Decision Analysis, also reveals that women may have more options than they realize.