An Anthropological Analysis of Family and Fertility Systems from the Perspective of Tehran Citizens: A Comparative Study of Tehran Municipality Districts 3 and 19

Abstract

The present study aimed to provide an anthropological analysis of transformations in the family system and the factors shaping fertility attitudes and behaviors among citizens of Davoodieh in Tehran Municipality District 3 and Khaniabad-e Now in District 19. A qualitative comparative ethnographic design was employed. The participants consisted of 30 married residents selected through purposive and snowball sampling, with 15 in-depth interviews conducted in each neighborhood. Data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, field observations, field notes, and the construction of family genealogies. The materials were analyzed using thematic analysis and continuous comparison between the two research settings. The findings indicated that families in both neighborhoods had moved from extended, kinship-oriented, and relatively large arrangements toward nuclear, couple-centered, planned, and low-fertility structures. Children were no longer primarily regarded as economic contributors, sources of parental support in old age, or instruments for preserving marital stability. Instead, they were understood as the focus of long-term emotional, educational, developmental, and financial investment. Economic insecurity, rising housing, education, and childcare costs, women’s employment and higher education, unequal distribution of domestic responsibilities, uncertainty about the future, social-media influence, concerns about health and bodily changes, and increasingly demanding standards of parenthood were the major factors limiting childbearing. Despite the socioeconomic differences between the two neighborhoods, the one-child or two-child family model predominated in both settings. In Khaniabad-e Now, concerns centered more strongly on meeting basic needs, whereas in Davoodieh, maintaining educational quality, welfare standards, and social status was more prominent. The genealogies also confirmed an intergenerational decline in family size and an increase in delayed marriage, childlessness, and one-child families. Overall, low fertility may be interpreted as an adaptive family strategy for managing contemporary economic, social, and cultural conditions, although its widespread adoption may generate significant long-term demographic consequences.