Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T14:00:56.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Permanent Childlessness: Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages Among Older Persons*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Ingrid Arnet Connidis  and
Julie Ann McMullin
Ingrid Arnet Connidis
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Julie Ann McMullin
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of childlessness reported by 287 childless respondents aged 55 and over who were part of a larger study (n - 678) on aging and social support. Sixty-seven per cent (n = 193) report advantages to childlessness and 64 per cent (n = 185) report disadvantages. Qualitative data show that key perceived advantages are fewer worries or problems, financial benefits, greater freedom, and career flexibility. The major disadvantages are lack of companionship/being alone/loneliness, lack of support and care when older, and missing the experience of parenthood. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the effects that gender, marital status, age, and childless status (childless by choice or by circumstance) have on the perceived advantages and disadvantages of having no children show that there is variability in perceived advantages only. When we compare specific perceived advantages and disadvantages to related experience, only some perceived benefits (financial advantage) are associated with actual experience. Findings are discussed in the context of actually experiencing costs and benefits versus sharing widely-held beliefs about childlessness.

Résumé

Cette étude examine les perceptions des 287 répondants, eux-mêmes sans enfant, sur le fait de ne pas avoir d'enfants; ils sont âgés de 55 ans et plus et font partie d'une étude plus vaste (rc = 678) sur le vieillissement et le soutien social. Soixante-sept pour cent (n = 193) font état des avantages de ne pas avoir d'enfants et 64 pour cent (n = 185) signalent des désavantages. Les données qualitatives révèlent moins de soucis ou de problèmes, des avantages financiers, une liberté et une disponibilité professionnelle plus grandes parmi les principaux avantages perçus. Le manque de compagnie, la solitude, le manque d'appui et de soins en vieillissant et le manque d'expérience des responsabilités parentales comptent au nombre des principaux désavantages. Les analyses — à deux variables ou à plusieurs variables — des effets qu'ont le genre, l'état civil, l'âge et le fait de ne pas avoir d'enfants (par choix ou selon les circonstances) sur la perception des avantages et des désavantages de ne pas avoir d'enfants démontrent des variations uniquement dans la perception des avantages. Lorsque nous comparons les avantages et les désavantages particuliers tirés de l'expérience, seuls certains avantages (avantages financiers) perçus sont associés à l'expérience réelle. Nous examinons les conclusions à partir d'expériences concrètes des coûts et des avantages par opposition au partage de croyances largement répandues sur le fait de ne pas avoir d'enfants.

Keywords

ChildlessnessAgingGenderFamilyParent Status.Sans enfantsvieillissementgenrefamillestatut de parent.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , Hiver/Winter 1999 , pp. 447 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, B.B., Rubinstein, R.L., Goodman, M., & Luborsky, M. (1992). A path not taken: A cultural analysis of regrets and childlessness in the lives of older women. The Gerontologiat, 32, 618–626.Google Scholar
Bachrach, C. (1980). Childlessness and social isolation among the elderly. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 627–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, F.E. (1983). Orientations towards voluntary childlessness. Journal of Biosocial Science, 15, 153–164.Google Scholar
Beekman, L.J., & Houser, B.B. (1982). The consequences of childlessness on the social-psychological well-being of older women. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 43–50.Google Scholar
Blake, J. (1979). Is zero preferred? American attitudes towards childlessness in the 1970s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 245–257.Google Scholar
Calhoun, L., & Selby, J.W. (1980). Voluntary childlessness, involuntary childlessness and having children: A study of social perceptions. Family Relations, 29, 181–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callan, V. (1987). The personal and marital adjustment of mothers and of voluntarily and involuntarily childless wives. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 847–856.Google Scholar
Callan, V.J. (1985). Perceptions of parents, the voluntarily and involuntarily childless: A multidimensional scaling analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 1045–1050.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Clark, P.G. (1993). Moral discourse and public policy in aging: Framing problems, seeking solutions and “public” ethics. Canadian Journal on Aging, 12(A), 485–508.Google Scholar
Connidis, I.A., & McMullin, J.A. (1992). Getting out of the house: The effect of childlessness on social participation and companionship in later life. Canadian Journal on Aging, 11, 370–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connidis, I.A., & McMullin, J.A. (1993). To have or have not: Parent status and the subjective well-being of older men and women. The Gerontológiát, 33, 630–636.Google Scholar
Connidis, I.A., & McMullin, J.A. (1994). Social support in older age: Assessing the impact of marital and parent status. Canadian Journal on Aging, 13, 510–527.Google Scholar
Connidis, I.A., & McMullin, J.A. (1996). Reasons for and perceptions of childlessness among older persons: exploring the impact of marital status and gender. Journal of Aging Studies, 10, 205–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, H. (1981). A comparison of intentional parents and intentionally childless couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 43, 593–600.Google Scholar
Glenn, N.D., & McLanahan, S. (1981). The effects of offspring on the psychological well-being of older adults. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 409–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grindstaff, C.F., Balakrishnan, T.R., & Ebanks, G.E. (1981). Sociodemographic correlates of childlessness: An analysis of the 1971 Canadian census. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 6, 337–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houser, B.B., Berkman, S.L., & Beekman, L.J. (1984). The relative costs and rewards of childlessness of older women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 8, 395–379.Google Scholar
Ishi-Kuntz, M., & Seccombe, K. (1989). The impact of children upon social support networks throughout the life course. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52(August), 777–790.Google Scholar
Kiernan, K.E. (1989). “Who remains childless?” Journal of Biosocial Science, 21, 387–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kivett, V.R., & Learner, R.M. (1980). Perspectives on the childless rural elderly: A comparative analysis. The Gerontologist, 20, 708–716.Google Scholar
Marshall, V.W., Cook, F.L., & Marshall, J.G. (1993). Conflict over intergenerational equity rhetoric and reality in a comparative context. In Bengston, V.L. & Achenbaum, W.A.. (Eds.), The changing contract across generations, pp. 119–140. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Matthews, R., & Martin Matthews, A. (1986). Infertility and involuntary childlessness: The transition to nonparenthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 641–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMullin, J.A., & Marshall, V.W. (1996). Family, friends, stress, and well-being: Does childlessness make a difference? Canadian Journal on Aging, 15, 355–373.Google Scholar
McMahon, M. (1995). Engendering motherhood: Identity and self-transformation in women's lives. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Miall, C. (1986). The stigma of involuntary childlessness. Social Problems, 33, 268–282.Google Scholar
Miall, C. (1989). Reproductive technology vs. the stigma of involuntary childlessness. Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 70, 43–50.Google Scholar
Murphy, M.J. (1984). Fertility, birth timing and marital breakdown: A reinterpre-tation of the evidence. Journal of Biosocial Science, 16, 487–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reading, J., & Ama tea, E.S. (1986). Role deviance or role diversification: Reassessing the psychosocial factors affecting the parenthood choice of career-oriented women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 255–260.Google Scholar
Rempel, J. (1985). Childless elderly: What are they missing? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 343–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, J.H. (1997). The real crisis of the century: Growing inequality, not stealing from our children. The Gerontologist, 37(1), 130–131.Google Scholar
Seccombe, Karen. (1991). Assessing the costs and benefits of children:gender comparisons among childfree husbands and wives. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53, (Feb), 191–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, A.L., Termen, H., Affleck, G., & Mendola, R. (1991). Cognitive appraisal and adjustment to infertility. Women and Health, 17, 1–45.Google Scholar
Tomes, N. (1985). Childlessness in Canada 1971: A further analysis. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 10, 37–68.Google Scholar
Veevers, J. (1973). The social meanings of parenthood. Psychiatry, 36, 291–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veevers, J. (1980). Childless by Choice. Toronto: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Wineberg, H. (1990). Delayed childbearing, childlessness, and marital disruption. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 21, 99–110.Google Scholar