Youth Outlook on Life Opportunities Study

National University of Singapore

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Childbearing, Delayed; Age Related Female Infertility; Marriage Age; Anxiety; Educational Problems

Treatments: Other: Information about policy initiatives; Other: Information about age-related fertility; Other: Information about diabetes

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05026619

NUS-IRB-2020-362

Details and patient eligibility

About

Singapore's fertility rate is currently below 1.2, raising concerns about population ageing and long-term sustainability. The fertility decline is characterized by falling birth rates among women in their 20s with almost no recuperation among women in their 30s. This project explores a) whether informational imperfections help to account for high intended ages at childbearing in Singapore, b) whether informational interventions significantly affect ideal and expected ages at marriage and childbearing, and expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, and c) whether informational interventions significantly affect expected and actual educational outcomes and labor market outcomes.

Our hypotheses are:

1. University students have knowledge gaps about age-related onset of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies and local policy initiatives related to age at marriage and childbearing, especially among male students.
2. Being exposed to accurate information in these domains leads to significantly lower ideal/expected ages at marriage and childbearing, and higher expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, immediately after the intervention.
3. Being exposed to accurate information in these domains does not lead to lower educational and labor market expectations immediately after the intervention among either male or female students, or to significant differences in module choices, Cumulative Average Point (CAP), starting salary and employment status of university students in the following academic semester and six months after graduation, among either male or female students.

Full description

The project conducts a randomized controlled trial involving 1000 full-time undergraduate students at NUS. The trial has three stages.

In the first stage, participants will be recruited through campus advertisements.

In the second stage, participants who meet the eligibility criteria will complete a 30-40 minute online survey. The survey includes the following:

1. a background survey on items including age, race, family income and parental background,
2. a section on dating history,
3. questions on ideal/expected ages at marriage, expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, and fertility and educational and career expectations,
4. a section on mental wellbeing,
5. an awareness survey on age-related onset of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and local policy initiatives related to age at marriage and childbearing,
6. an informational intervention. One-third of participants (333 individuals) are randomly assigned to receive accurate information on the age-related fertility survey items. One-third of participants (333 individuals) are randomly assigned to receive accurate information on policy-related survey items. One-third of participants (334 individuals) receives a fact sheet on diabetes in Singapore. Participants are asked to read the information thoroughly,
7. selected questions from c), which collects data on after-intervention intended ages at marriage and fertility and educational and career expectations, as well as questions about whether the questions were useful or led to anxiety.

In the third stage, the students' responses are linked to the Educational Data Lake managed by ALSET, Provost's Office, NUS, which collects data on students' module choices (whether within the same major, in a different major within the same faculty or in a different faculty) and CAP in the following academic semester and at graduation, graduation status, and starting salary and employment status six months after graduation. All participants are informed and these linkages are mentioned in the consent form.

After the data collection is completed, we will analyse the data using a difference-in-differences econometric model. Our model compares three sets of dependent variables at different points in time:

1. Ideal/expected ages at marriage and fertility, expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, and educational and career expectations, compared before and immediately after the intervention,
2. Module choices and CAP, compared before the survey and in the following academic semester and at graduation, and graduation status,
3. Starting salary and employment status, compared between the control and treatment groups six months after graduation (multiple regression rather than difference-in-differences model)

The results are compared by gender, faculty, educational and career expectations, and other background characteristics, including dating history and mental wellbeing.

Enrollment: 1,000 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 20 to 24 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Full-time NUS undergraduate
• Singaporean citizen
• Aged 20-24
• Never been married
• Childless and not currently expecting
• Identify as heterosexual

Exclusion criteria

• Student enrolled in faculty where the Dean has not provided approval for recruitment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,000 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Receives a fact sheet on diabetes in Singapore

Treatment:

Other: Information about diabetes

Fertility-related information

Experimental group

Description:

Receives accurate information on age-related fertility

Treatment:

Other: Information about age-related fertility

Policy-related information

Experimental group

Description:

Receives accurate information on local policy initiatives related to age at marriage and childbearing

Treatment:

Other: Information about policy initiatives