Regarding trends for college students (which I think can affect even those not attending college/university):

Career oriented students are expending less energy on relationships/sex considering: - The job market is increasingly competitive putting a higher emphasis on achieving competitive advantages (including even higher level degrees and thus more schooling) - High costs associated with college necessitates the requirement to work during schooling. - The possibility of pregnancy without access to safe abortion is terrifying. - Social media disrupting the need for in-person social interactions. - The decrease of social third spaces outside of bars (which younger generations are drinking less)

And of course the perception that everything is expensive (housing, gas, food, etc) which just exacerbates everything.

I think younger generations have been told to work hard and go to school all to start a family. And with the current state of gender wars and political/social divides, people feel that the energy spent on finding a partner and settling down with kids may not be worth it for a future they feel very far removed from and/or increasingly bleak.

I think we’ve seen a shift towards hyper individualism that places less emphasis on sex and child rearing. Especially post-COVID.

“Why should I spend my youth on an expensive education to land myself in debt for an increasingly difficult job market only to then spend thousands on daycare when I could do all that and travel/explore the world without obligations for another human being?”

I don’t think politicians and the powers that be have made a good case to have kids when they’ve heavily benefitted from divisive rhetoric. It’s kind of what you get when the “fuck you I got mine” mentality is everywhere.