Some characteristics of intentionally childless wives in Britain

Abstract

Intentional childlessness in Britain has been investigated by means of a postal questionnaire survey of married women who to date had never had a child. These wives were categorized according to their fertility intentions. As a group the wives were well-educated, likely to be employed and to be married to men in professional or managerial occupations, although there were some with husbands in manual occupations. The main reason perceived by the wives for their decision not to have children was the value they placed on the freedom they consequently gained. A majority of the wives felt there were no disadvantages in remaining childless. The remainder who felt that there were disadvantages identified these as: missing the positive features of children; possible loneliness and lack of support in old age; feelings of deviancy; and economic and social discrimination resulting from their childlessness.

Personality and voluntary childlessness

“…Houseknecht (1987) noted a tendency for childfree women to have had a relatively permissive upbringing with moderate levels of parental warmth and the encouragement of independence and achievement (Stein and Bailey 1973;Kaltreider and Margolis 1977). Kiernan (1989) found that for women with siblings there was no association between childlessness and number of siblings, but that women who were only children were significantly more likely to be childless, a finding also reported by other studies (Baum and Cope 1980;Ory 1978;Rovi 1994).…”

“…Baum and Cope 1980;Duxbury et al 2005) and reinforcing the finding that Independence is an associated trait. Other highly-rated motivations related to enjoyment of a particular lifestyle, expectations that parenting would be stressful or expensive, disinterest in childrearing and a preference for finding self-fulfilment in other ways.…”

“…For most childfree people a desire for independence and freedom is central to their decision, and this is one of the most popular motivations (Baum and Cope 1980;Duxbury et al 2005;Silka and Kiesler 1977). Houseknecht (1987) observed that freedom from childcare responsibility-and the opportunities thus afforded-was mentioned as a rationale in 79 % of motivational studies evaluated.…”

“…Whilst this may be the case for around a quarter (Baum and Cope 1980;Weston and Qu 2001) it is a general lack of interest in children or discomfort in being around them that is more commonly expressed than outright dislike (Park 2005;Scott 2009). Others may love children and enjoy regular contact with them through work or family.…”

Childlessness in the UK

“…Both "active" and "passive" decision-making occurs across the life course which results in some individuals not having children (Gillespie 1999). Individuals can move along the childlessness continuum over time as their own life course develops (Baum and Cope 1980;McAllister and Clarke 2000). As Miettinen (2010: 20) noted: "For many, the decision not to have children may be a consequence of a process, where childbearing is postponed due to reasons related to relationship, personal considerations as well as financial and work-related constraints until it is too late to have children.…”