We examined double standards in norms concerning voluntary childlessness. Whether the choice to remain childless is more accepted for men or women is not a priori clear; we formulated hypotheses in both directions. Parenthood might be considered as more central to women’s identity than to men’s, resulting in higher disapproval of childlessness for women. Yet, as the costs of parenthood are high...

This paper presents estimates of delayed childbearing and permanent childlessness in the United States and the determinants of those phenomena. The estimates are derived by fitting the Coale-McNeil marriage model to survey data on age at first birth and by letting the parameters of the model depend on covariates. Substantively, the results provide evidence that the low first birth fertility rat...

BACKGROUND Postponement of childbearing since the 1970s has led to an increase in permanent involuntarily childlessness. We will address the magnitude of this trend, the effect of IVF/ICSI and the effect on total fertility rate (TFR an often used demographic measure for the level of fertility) in six EU countries. METHODS Using a fertility micro-simulation model, we estimate the effect of pos...

This study compares the effects of two distinct forms of human capital - income and education - on marital status and childlessness separately by sex in six different countries. Nearly 10 million individual records on individuals aged 16 to 50 were used from censuses from Brazil, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, USA and Venezuela dating from 2000 or later, to analyse the relationship between educa...

Levels of childlessness in Britain are higher than in many other European countries, with just under one in five British women currently reaching age 45 with no biological children of her own. This chapter provides new insights in two ways. First, by combining childbearing data from repeated rounds of the General Household Survey and the United Kingdom Household Panel Survey the chapter examine...

Abstract This study casts light on how the issue of childlessness is portrayed in Bible. The discussion begins with a commentary Michal’s story, which provides foundation for further reflection was dealt biblical world, especially situations where no miraculous divine solutions were provided. Several humanly devised solutions, acceptable and practiced ancient world are presented. last part pape...

The relationships between coping strategies, goal adjustment and positive and negative affect were studied in 83 definitive involuntary childless people. Self-report questionnaires were filled out. The findings suggested that positive ways to handle the childlessness were related to positive affect, while negative ways to deal with the childlessness were related to negative affect. Cognitive co...

The present study attempted to explore the perspectives of Indian women on reproduction and childlessness. 250 women were requested to enlighten by their views about reproduction and infertility, using an open ended interview which had four questions. The narrative analysis revealed social, religious and medical issues influences their views regarding conception and childlessness. Results sugge...

Any definition of involuntary childlessness has to consider the difference between sterility and subfertility. As the latter affects about 20-30% of all couples at least once in their lives, general practitioners (GPs) may be the first to be confronted with this problem. This review presents the most relevant diagnostic and therapeutic options in cases of female or male infertility, and discuss...

Demographers debate why people have children in advanced industrial societies where children are net economic costs. From an evolutionary perspective, however, the important question is why some individuals choose not to have children. Recent theoretical developments in evolutionary psychology suggest that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to prefer to remain childless than less i...