Regassa, Nigatu (PhD)Abdissa, Habtamu2018-08-062023-11-182018-08-062023-11-182012-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/11046The present study attempted to investigate the current status of the valu e of children (vaC) for parents and tried to answer the question, "why do people want children?" The study also investigated the needs/satisfactions of having children and how these relate to fertility-related attitude. A multistage stratified probability sampling was used to select a sample size of 605 respondents consis ting of unm arried youths aged between 15-29 from differen t socio-economic groups to examine regional similarities and differences on the Vac. Responses about advantages of having ch ildren were collected and co mparisons between the different socio-economic groups and sex were made. In addition multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between socio-economic and demographic factors and the vac in one hand and the relationship between th e vac and desired number of children on th e other hand. Comparisons across different socioeco nomic groups and sex reflected changes in the perception of the different dim ensions of vac (social/normative, econom ic/utilita rian and psychological/emotional) across socio -eco nomic groups and between sexes . Res ults of the study showed that with in creased education and income, children's social/normative value decrease while increased household incom e alld expusure to media are associated with de creased economic/ut ilitarian and increased psy chological/emotional values, resp ectively. Sex, on the other hand, is p os itively associated with each of the dimensions of vacs, indicating females' high expectations from children on each of the values. Regression analysis also revea led that where children's social/normative and economic/utilitarian values assumed important, f ertility desire was high whereas psychological/emotional vac is associated with lower desired number of children. Finally, th e provision of old-age secu rity benefi ts, un employment and health insurance was recommended to low er the existence of high economic/utilitarian vac associated with high fertility desire.envalu e of children (voc)Thesis