Outcomes of the First Reproductive Experience and Their Impact on Partnership Dynamics

The first reproductive experience, defined as an individual's first attempt to conceive or an unintentional conception, is generally considered a significant milestone in life. However, analyzing this reproductive period has been a challenging task, as most surveys capture only realized fertility and do not allow us to examine the potentially longer interval between first attempts to conceive and conception, or a possible abandonment of initial attempts due to various reasons, such as infertility, economic issues, or relationship disagreements. This paper aims to examine the effect of the outcome of the first attempt to conceive on relationship stability, including the risk of breakup. Using data from the second wave of the second round of the Czech Generations and Gender Survey (2025), which includes a new module on the first reproductive experience, I conducted a survival analysis. My results indicate that respondents whose first attempts to conceive within a heterosexual relationship were unsuccessful faced a higher risk of relationship breakup compared to those whose attempts were successful. These findings suggest that analyzing the first reproductive experience, which can have various outcomes, can provide a broader understanding of fertility dynamics than analyzing exclusively realized fertility and births.