The purpose of our study was to assess the modern students' assessment of the prospects of creating a family and having children. The empirical basis of the study was the results of a questionnaire survey of 84 students aged 17 to 24 years old. Theoretical analysis allowed us to state that in modern conditions the formation of family values has been transformed under the influence of popularisation of various non-standard models of family relationships in the media and Internet resources; increasing trends of ‘child-free’, voluntary abandonment of the family; shifting the emphasis from child-centred to conjugal family and to informal relationships, as well as preference for building a career and achieving high social status. The conducted questionnaire survey of students actualises the problem of young people's attitude to marriage, family formation and, of course, the birth of children in the family. Today's students express their intention to create a family in the future, plan to have children, but at the same time they believe that children can interfere with their career. They fear that they will not be able to combine their responsibilities at home and at work. Many also note that low income, difficult life conditions do not favour the birth of children. The results of the empirical study help to expand the theoretical basis about the peculiarities of reproductive behaviour of student youth.