Exploring Childbirth Awareness and Attitudes of Generation Z Female College Students

This study aims to interpret and understand the perceptions and attitudes of Korean female college students from the perspective of Generation Z and seek ways to educate them on the value of childbirth. As a result of conducting in-depth interviews with 14 Generation Z female college students regarding childbirth awareness and attitudes, 12 theme collections, 5 final categories were derived. The five final categories are ambivalence about childbirth, having a child is a loss, something that requires planning and agreement first, inequality experienced by women and a society where it is not easy to give birth and raise a child What is most noteworthy in this study is that Korean Generation Z female college students feel complex and contradictory feelings about childbirth due to the responsibility of raising children, but they perceive childbirth as ‘gaining greater happiness.’ These results suggest that education to raise positive awareness of the value of childbirth and the establishment of a social system that does not jeopardize the lives of children and mothers due to childbirth can be the starting point for increasing the birth rate in Korean society.