Regret and Psychological Well-Being among Voluntarily and Involuntarily Childless Women and Mothers

Abstract

This study examines regret and psychological well-being among 72 middle-aged and older women who are either voluntarily childless, involuntarily childless, or mothers. Group comparisons indicate that, when compared to involuntarily childless women, voluntarily childless women show higher levels of overall well-being, rate themselves as more autonomous with greater environmental mastery, and are less likely to have a child-related regret. An unexpected finding is that about one-third of women categorized by researchers as involuntarily childless indicate that they are "childless by choice." These women report making an active decision to accept the childless lifestyle and focus on the future, in essence exerting control over their situations. Results from this small and selective sample should be interpreted cautiously. However, they do suggest that researchers' definitions of childlessness may not map directly onto those of participants, and they emphasize the importance of ascertaining respondents' perceptions of control over their situations.

Reconsidering Childfreedom: A Feminist Exploration of Discursive Identity Construction in Childfree LiveJournal Communities

“…However, Jeffries and Konnert's (2002) study revealed a discrepancy between self-identification of ''childless by choice'' and the researchers' classification of infertile heterosexual women as involuntarily childless. The researchers noted that women's ''explanation for this apparent inconsistency was that at some point they evaluated their options-whether to keep trying to have children, to pursue fertility intervention, to pursue adoption, or to adopt a childless lifestyle'' (Jeffries and Konnert, 2002, p. 100).…”

“…Scholars have employed an array of labels to describe this group of people, including voluntarily childless (e.g., Gillespie, 2000;Houseknecht, 1987;Jeffries & Konnert, 2002), childfree (e.g., Baber & Dreyer, 1986;Campbell, 2003;Durham, 2008;Gillespie, 2003;Koropeckyj-Cox, Romano, & Moras, 2007), and childless by choice (e.g., Paul, 2001;Reti, 1992;Veevers, 1980). A convincing argument has been made to adopt childfree over voluntarily childless and childless by choice to recognize the agency of the individual through the suffix-free rather than-less (Bartlett, 1996).…”

The influence of infertility and in vitro fertilization treatment on postpartum and long-term mental health in women

“…Other studies have not found any differences in couples´ adaptability to parenthood (81), or in the quality of the parent-infant relationship (71), and some even that this relationship is of higher quality in mothers and children after IVF treatment compared to spontaneous conception (19). (83). In regard to psychological well-being in this group, studies are scarce.…”

Managing social support for childless older Malaysians who are poor

“…Voluntary and involuntary childlessness arguably have different consequences in life such as that related to their psychological well-being (Jeffries & Konnert, 2002) and/or stereotyping or stigma (Letherby, 2002). McQuillan et al (2012) also investigated if childlessness concerns differ with the various reasons of childlessness.…”

“…Research on older people without children started to grow in the past decade (e.g. Albertini & Kohli, 2009;Blackstone & Stewart, 2012;Dykstra, 2009;Jeffries & Konnert, 2002;Keizer et al, 2008;Umberson et al, 2010;Wenger, 2009;Z. Zhang & Hayward, 2001).…”