A General Decision-Theoretic Model for a Couple's Family Building Process

During the course of history, more and more reliable birth control methods have become available. Hence, to a certain degree, the possibility of avoiding any or additional children, and of spacing the family building process has arisen. The advancement of six predetermination technology, whereby couples can influence the sex of their children, gives couples, another decision variable. Assuming a rational acting couple, we present a general decision-theoretic model which describes the family building process and its optimization through maximizing the expected utility concerning the spacing, ordering, sex, and number of their children.