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Individuals who choose to be childfree often face misunderstanding and a lack of acceptance from others. In many cases, this results in negative attitudes, followed by discrimination and prejudice. There have been few studies that would allow us to determine which features are responsible for treating childfree individuals with prejudice. This study aimed to explore the effect of five possible features that could influence others' prejudice towards childfree individuals: collective narcissism, right‐wing authoritarianism, religiosity, political beliefs, and generativity. The study was conducted in Poland among 229 participants (age 19–59, M = 30.23; SD = 6.72). Commonality analysis was performed which allowed us to isolate both unique and common effects of possible predictors on the dependent variable (prejudice). Right‐wing authoritarianism, political beliefs, and collective narcissism had both a unique and common effect on the dependent variable. Religiosity only had a common effect on prejudice, whereas generativity had no effect (neither common nor unique) on the dependent variable. The total explained variance of the dependent variable was R2 = 0.46. The study isolated four predictors of prejudice towards childfree individuals: right‐wing authoritarianism, political beliefs, collective narcissism, and religiosity. This provides a better understanding of the possible origin of prejudice towards childfree individuals and allows us to explore the relation between these predictors in the future. These results can be used to promote more positive attitudes towards childfree individuals as well as create more targeted actions to tackle the prejudice towards them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fathers tend to achieve higher earnings than childless men, but there is limited evidence on the associations between fatherhood timing and men’s later earnings. Using a longitudinal census-based sample of Finnish men, including a subsample of brothers, we investigated fatherhood timing and men’s midlife earnings using both between- and within-family models. Earnings around age 50 were lower among adolescent and young fathers than for men who became fathers at ages 25–29 or later, but these associations became negligible after accounting for measured confounders and unobserved familial confounding. Overall, our findings highlight the important roles of selection into early childbearing and into childlessness. At the population level, early fatherhood was associated with clear negative distributional shifts in fathers’ midlife earnings. However, among all men, any influence of fatherhood timing on men’s midlife earnings distribution paled in comparison with that of childlessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unmet cultural norm of motherhood can constrain a woman's sense of social equality. Childlessness is often accompanied by social stigma and shame. The author identifies personal barriers within both patient and analyst that were unforeseen prior to the treatment process. The author implements reverie to open deeper aspects of her mind that allows further exploration into the patient's dreams. This interplay between analyst and patient evokes additional memories from the patient's earlier life. The paper is written in a lovely prose style that demonstrates the creative growth of the author while transforming the artistic pursuits of the patient. Both patient and analyst benefit from this mutual awareness of limitations towards new creative possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overtime, choosing not to have children has become a more common phenomenon. Alongside this change, studies have found that women without children are just as fulfilled, if not more so, in their lives as those who have had children. These studies, in the context of theories of second-wave feminism, psychosocial theory, and stigma theory, are reviewed. This study presents a dissatisfied older woman who has not had children to examine the differences in such cases. As a product of thematic analysis, five themes stand out during Holly's interview: focus on the past, stigma, fear, relationships with younger generations, and regret. Results are discussed in the context of what they may mean for future research and practice with the suggestion that perhaps an over-focus on the past, in lieu of present and future circumstances, may be a factor in childless women's dissatisfaction in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This brief report aims to explore the role of childlessness and its interaction with sibling positioning (i.e., birth order and gender) in upward intergenerational support within the context of Asian familial and patrilineal values. Background: Despite the increasing rates of childlessness in Asia, little is known about how childless individuals deviate from or adhere to the patrilineal gendered practices of supporting their older parents. Singapore, a rapidly aging nation that emphasises Confucian familism values and patrilineal practices in guiding its welfare policies, provides an ideal setting for this research investigation. Method: We analysed a sample of 475 Singaporeans aged 50 and above with at least one living parent from a recent nationwide survey. We utilised multivariate regressions to examine the associations between childlessness and various types of upward intergenerational support, with further heterogeneity analyses based on sibling positioning. Results: The traditional patrilineal pattern of first‐born sons providing the most financial transfers to aging parents was found among non‐childless individuals. In contrast, all childless individuals, regardless of their birth order and gender, played a significant role in providing intergenerational support, particularly in instrumental and associational support, as well as maintaining geographical proximity to their parents. Conclusion: Childless individuals in Singapore were found to shoulder the primary responsibility for supporting parents, thus upholding the values of filial piety and familism. Results further suggest that the rising prevalence of childlessness may contribute to the erosion of patrilineal norms in upward intergenerational support in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decades, childless old age has attracted a considerable amount of scholarly interest. However, few studies address this phenomenon in Southern European familistic welfare states, where there is a pervading expectation that family members, especially spouses and children, care for their older relatives. The present cross-sectional study aims to analyse the relationship between childlessness, social networks and wellbeing in a sample of 612 Portuguese individuals aged 65 and over, comprising two sub-samples: parents (N = 540) and childless (N = 72). Data were collected through a research protocol that included a sociodemographic questionnaire, a personal social network assessment inventory, and several validated psychometric measures of psychological wellbeing focusing on mental health, loneliness, depression and satisfaction with life. Childless older adults' social networks are smaller but more diverse, including a more significant proportion of friends and neighbours. No differences were found in perceived support from significant others, but network reciprocity was lower among non-parents. The childless subsample also reported more feelings of loneliness and less life satisfaction, but regression analysis showed that parenthood status, per se , is not significantly related to any outcome measures. Besides the central role of sociodemographic characteristics and personal functioning measures in explaining psychological wellbeing variance, several network factors were also identified as influential predictors. Implications for micro-level network intervention and macro-level social policy making are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many European societies follow pronatalist family policies; nevertheless, in all countries, the total fertility rate is below replacement level and the rate of childless people is growing. Meanwhile, among demographers and policymakers, immigration is discussed as a way to increase the labor force and recently also to maintain the population size. This study contributes to a better understanding of individuals' attitudes on these issues by examining the factors that influence the acceptance of immigration from the prism of attitudes toward voluntary childlessness. Attitudes toward immigrants as well as attitudes toward voluntary childlessness vary across and within European societies. From a selective pronatalist perspective, both factors might threaten the survival of the nation. Therefore, in this study, we assess the extent to which attitudes toward voluntary childlessness relate to attitudes toward immigrants. We differentiate attitudes toward immigrants as an economic and as a cultural threat. We use data from the European Social Survey (Round 9) and apply multilevel linear regression models. Our results show that there is a strong association between the acceptance of immigrants and voluntary childlessness at the individual level. At the country level, the female childlessness rate is associated with attitudes toward immigration: higher female childlessness rates are associated with more favorable attitudes toward immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increased alcohol use among mid-life women in recent decades. Given the association between alcohol use and childbearing earlier in life and the centrality of childbearing for other aspects of mid-life women's health, we examined how multiple components of childbearing histories were associated with mid-life alcohol use. Our analysis included 3,826 women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). We estimated how nine components of childbearing were associated with women's alcohol use at age 50. We investigated these components independently and also created six childbearing profiles using Mixed-Mode Latent Class Analysis (MM-LCA). The most alcohol was consumed by women without any childbirths, with older ages at first birth, with low parity, and with the same or fewer births than expected. Women with older ages at first and last birth and more childbirths were less likely to abstain from alcohol compared to women with younger ages at first and last birth and fewer childbirths. Our MM-LCA demonstrated that women with multiple childbirths over a long period of time consumed the least alcohol compared to other groups. Binge drinking at mid-life was generally not associated with childbearing histories in our models. In summary, childbearing histories mattered for women's drinking behaviors at mid-life. Given that an increasing number of women do not have children, the age at first birth continues to trend older, and parity is decreasing, we may expect mid-life women's alcohol use to continue to increase in line with these observed fertility trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Couples' tendency towards voluntary single-childedness and childlessness (VSCC) has turned into a major challenge in all societies and led to different problems such as population aging. A key step to VSCC management is to determine its contributing factors through valid and reliable instruments. This exploratory sequential mixed method study (qualitative-quantitative) was conducted in 2020–2021. Phases of qualitative consists of all couples aged 15–49 in Babol, Iran, who were single or childless. Sampling is based on the purpose, and the number of samples is 20 couples. To collect data, face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. Sampling continued until data saturation. The data were analyzed by the conventional content analysis method and quantitative phase. Initially, a qualitative study was conducted on twenty couples, and were analyzed through conventional content analysis. Findings were used to develop QFT-VSCC and then, the face, content, and construct validity as well as reliability were assessed. Construct validity was assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability was assessed through internal consistency and stability assessments. The results of the qualitative part analysis consist of 140 codes, 30 primary categories, and nine main categories and two themes (individual limitations and social limitations). The primary QFT-VSCC had 78 items. Fifty-eight items were omitted during validity assessment and the remaining twenty-two items were loaded on five factors during factor analysis. These factors were threatened priorities, inappropriate familial context for childbearing, sense of occupational and social insecurity for the child, social modeling of childlessness, and tendency towards change or stability in marital life. The five factors explained 52.56% of the total variance. All model fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis were acceptable and the Cronbach's alpha values of QFT-VSCC and all its factors were more than 0.70. The results of convergent validity analysis revealed that all factors had an AVE value greater than 0.5, and the HTMT index for all factors was less than 0.85. This indicated that discriminant validity had been achieved. QFT-VSCC is a simple valid and reliable instrument for VSCC assessment among both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary childlessness (VC), or being childfree, refers to intentionally choosing not to become a parent. VC is a growing trend that influences couple relations and individual life trajectories in many countries. However, very few studies have examined this emerging phenomenon in non-Western contexts. To contribute to a contextualized understanding of VC and increase the diversity of voices in the literature, the present qualitative study aimed to explore marital experiences of childfree couples in Turkey where strong pronatalist family-oriented norms and a conservative gender order coexist with increasing individualism and egalitarian practices. The sample was recruited through convenience strategies and consisted of 5 married childfree couples who were educated professionals with an age range of 25–47. The data was collected through separate semi-structured individual interviews with each partner. An inductive thematic analysis of the interviews revealed 4 main themes: 1) "Having children is a challenging experience," 2) "By being childfree, we can build our marriage on togetherness and equality," 3) "For us, being childfree is a mutual, yet indefinite choice," 4) "A childfree marriage comes with social pressure." The results showed that childfree couples seek to build a non-traditional marital relationship and live an autonomous life. The wives seemed to be pressured and questioned more than the husbands. The study indicates that being childfree involves unique socio-cultural, gender, and couple processes. Implications for clinicians working with childfree individuals and couples in strongly pronatalist and traditional contexts like Turkey are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infertility is regarded as a highly stressful and challenging experience. However, the response to this unexpected moment varies from one individual to the other. The review explores research that studies resilience in the context of infertility and its treatment. The purpose was to study the protective and risk factors associated with resilience and to identify psychosocial factors that could play a crucial role in resilience among infertile couples and individuals who are seeking infertility treatment. Four major databases (PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Wiley Online Library) were searched with appropriate keywords. A total of 4101 articles were retrieved from the databases and after following various levels of screening 18 articles were finalized. These articles explored resilience and other psychosocial factors in couples/individuals seeking infertility treatment. The protective factors associated with resilience were quality of life, coping, social support, and posttraumatic growth. The risk factors associated with resilience were infertility-related stress, anxiety and depression. The unexpected diagnosis of infertility might be disturbing for many, still, it may not be extremely agonizing for some. Individuals who are encouraged to utilize their own resources and seek support are able to deal with stressors associated with infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Childlessness and infertility represent a frequent and important issue in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Nevertheless, until now epidemiological data remains scarce. Therefore, main objectives of this study were to evaluate the rate of childlessness and the cumulative probability of reproduction in female and male IBD patients within the Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort Study (SIBDCS), a large prospective multicenter nationwide cohort. Methods: Prospectively collected data of SIBDCS was used, comprising more than 3,300 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). We analyzed the following groups of patients: 1) female IBD patients aged =40 years and diagnosed before age of 30 years with at least one follow-up, 2) female IBD patients who reported actively trying to conceive, with IBD diagnosed <35 years and with age at enrolment <45 years (longitudinal observation), with at least one follow-up, and 3) childless males who actively tried to conceive. Results: A total of 1,412 female patients from the SIBDCS [843 CD, 539 UC, 30 indeterminate colitis (IC)] with available data were included in our analyses. Out of those 184 females (70.1% CD and 29.9 % UC) were aged = 40 years and have been diagnosed with IBD before the age of 30 years. Among these, 184 women 32.1% were childless. The portion of childless females (36.4%) was significantly higher in CD vs. UC (36.4% vs. 21.8%; p=0.026), equaling a relative risk of childlessness of 1.7 in CD vs. UC. and higher than in the Swiss general population (21%). The mean number of children per female patient was 1.32 (median 1, min 0, max 6), per female with CD 1.12 (median 1, min 0, max 4), per female with UC/IC 1.78 (median 2, min 0, max 6; P=0.001). The longitudinal analysis of female IBD patients trying to conceive revealed that one out of two women neither were pregnant nor had born a child five years after first trying to conceive. Conclusions: The rate of childlessness in females with CD is higher compared to the general Swiss population, whereas it is similar in women with UC. Moreover, the mean number of children is lower in CD than in UC. Females with CD remain more often childless compared to their UC counterparts. Although the exact underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, this discrepancy should alert healthcare professionals treating CD patients to actively address this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are considered as social and economic safety nets for their elderly parents in many developing countries, including Nigeria. This perception is driven by the fact that state-sponsored welfare systems are almost non-existent thereby placing parents as the sole care providers for their young children, and grown children as the sole care providers for their older parents. What this may mean for older people without children is that they are left with inadequate material support which could affect their well-being and life satisfaction. This study examines the adequacy of material support systems for childless older adults in southeast Nigeria with the aim to inform policy and social work interventions to ensure adequate support for the older adults. Twelve childless older adults aged 75 and older partook in the in-depth interview. The collected data was analyzed thematically. Except for the government support system, childless older adults receive material support from the networks of family, community, and churches. However, the support available from these networks seems to be inadequate and irregular. The study recommends for the political will by government to ensure that the newly approved national policy on ageing benefits older adults. Social workers are highly needed to ensure that other necessary programmes are established, and also strengthen the systems that support older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single and childless women over the age of 35 constitute an expanding demographic in North America and many parts of the world, yet our society continues to place importance on marriage and family as markers of life success. This study explored how eight single (never-married) and childless women experience themselves during early midlife (ages 35–45) utilizing the Listening Guide method of analysis. Three categories of participant voices were uncovered in this research: voices which conveyed the positivity of living a single and childless identity (i.e. the voices of hope, faith, gratitude, nurturance, freedom, and resilience), voices which conveyed the struggles of living a single and childless identity (i.e. the voices of invisibility, shame, confusion, loneliness, guilt, longing, and uncertain waiting), and the voice of ambivalence. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of women as 'child-bearers' and the overarching view of motherhood as a prerequisite for female fulfilment has formed the basis for societal expectations of the female gender for centuries. However, the number of women who choose not to have children is increasing. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of millennials' perception of voluntarily childless women in the UK. It also aimed to explore the extent to which these perceptions are culturally specific and are shaped by societal expectations and the media. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with participants aged between twenty-three and thirty-eight years. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis informed by a social constructionist epistemological standpoint. Data analysis related to millennial perceptions of voluntarily childless women in the UK revealed three dominant themes: (1) women are expected to behave in accordance with socially constructed gender norms; (2) women are presumed to desire children, as dictated by their gender; and (3) external positive perspectives contrast with internal negative perceptions. Findings indicated that women remain captive to the culture of prevalent gendered expectations that conflate womanhood with motherhood. Millennial mothers displayed external positive perspectives toward voluntarily childless women, but internal prejudices and biases were apparent in the data. Despite the rapidly evolving changes in relation to social norms and gender roles in modern-day life, millennial perceptions in the UK align with the long-standing traditional belief that women must become mothers in order to realise social satisfaction and ultimate fulfilment in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenthood is one of the most important social roles, but the consequences of becoming a parent are not always as expected. It is estimated that in developed countries, up to 5%–14% of parents regret their decision to have children and if they could turn back time, they would choose childlessness. While such a situation can have serious consequences for the entire family system, our knowledge of the causes and consequences of regretting parenthood is very limited. Beyond the possible taboo, one factor that is certainly responsible for the small number of studies on regretting parenthood is the lack of questionnaires to measure its severity. In the present study, we decided to fill this gap and developed a new questionnaire—the Parenthood Regret Scale. In a series of three studies (total N = 2,994) conducted on English-speaking, French-speaking, and Polish-speaking samples, we analyzed the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the new scale. The results confirmed that the Parenthood Regret Scale has a single-factor structure, which has been replicated in the three languages. Furthermore, the analyses confirmed that higher parenthood regret is negatively related to life satisfaction, and positively related to the severity of depressive symptoms and parental burnout. In light of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the Parenthood Regret Scale is a valid and reliable measure that can help advance research on an almost unknown issue of great social importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women's representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) employment has increased significantly over the past few decades, their presence remains low in fields like computer science. Using the National Science Foundation's Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT), this paper assesses the factors shaping employment in STEM and non-STEM occupations among men and women with bachelor's degrees in computer science. Our results reveal that women with degrees in computer science are far less likely than their male counterparts to be employed in STEM occupations, particularly in computer science jobs. But family factors do not have the expected association with employment in computer science jobs. Men who are parents and childless women are more likely to work in non-STEM jobs versus computer science jobs, relative to childless men. Furthermore, the gender gap in employment in computer science jobs is larger among those graduating in the new millennium, suggesting that other factors are at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined associations between childlessness and voting in Europe. We used cross‐sectional European Social Survey data from 20 countries (n = 37,623). Our results suggest that there is a "childless vote" in Europe. Supporting our pre‐registered hypothesis, childless individuals voted for parties that had visibly positioned themselves at the Green‐Alternative‐Libertarian (GAL) pole of the GAL‐TAN (GAL vs. Traditional‐Authoritarian‐Nationalist) ideological dimension. The pre‐registered explorative analyses of associations between childlessness and economic left–right ideology or other policy positions of the party for which the individual had voted did not yield results. Explorative analyses suggested in the review process showed that self‐rated religiosity was independently associated with childlessness, but ideological left–right self‐placement or self‐ratings of political attitudes were not. Our results suggest a new demographic prognostic of vote choice, thus adding to the literature on demographic processes associated with political dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood family is vital for the formation of fertility preferences and attitudes towards family life. Yet previous studies mainly focused on structural aspects of the family, whereas the role of perceptions of one's family in relation to fertility preferences remained largely understudied. This study examined how different aspects of the early family environment (i.e. relationships with parents, happiness in childhood, parental conflicts, family resources, as well as family structure) are related to the ideal number of children reported in adulthood. Using representative cross‐sectional survey data from the Finnish Family Barometer 2015, the sample comprised men and women aged 20–45 with and without children. Poisson regression models indicated that a higher number of siblings was associated with a higher ideal number of children, whereas living in a single‐parent household and overall negative perceptions of parents were related to a lower ideal number of children independent of various socio‐demographic characteristics. Further analyses showed that these family characteristics were associated with the ideal number of children mainly among childless people but not among parents. The findings suggest that the early family environment is related to the formation of the ideal number of children, especially for childless people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by relational dialectics theory (RDT), we analyzed 85 first-person testimonials of parental regret written by users of the /r/childfree subreddit. We interrogated how competing discourses animate what it means to be a parent (our semantic object). Contrapuntal analysis revealed dominant and marginalized Discourses of Parenting as Heaven (DPHN) and Parenting as Hell on Earth (DPHL), respectively, as well as a third Discourse of Parenting as (the Only) Choice (DPOC). We identified three kinds of dialogically contractive practices including a new form we call fear of missing out (FOMO), two forms of diachronic separation, four forms of synchronic interplay including a new form we introduce (i.e., allying) that is useful when more than two discourses compete, and one form of dialogic transformation. We argue that FOMO serves as a catalyst for diachronic separation. We offer practical implications for fencesitters (those "on the fence" about having children), counselors, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) reproductive health counseling is associated with higher knowledge, lower voluntary childlessness, greater medication adherence during pregnancy, and improved outcomes of pregnancy. Our aims were to assess counseling and knowledge about IBD and reproductive health in a tertiary care IBD patient population. Study Design We anonymously surveyed women and men ages 18 to 45 cared for at the Stanford IBD clinic about reproductive health and administered the CCPKnow questionnaire. STATA was used to summarize descriptive statistics and compare categorical variables using Fisher's exact test. Results Of the 100 patients (54% women) who completed the survey, only 33% reported prior reproductive health counseling. Both men and women considered not having a child due to IBD (31% women, 15% men) and most (83%) had no prior counseling. A minority of patients had an adequate (≥8/17) CCPKnow score (45% women, 17% men). The majority of women with prior pregnancy had pre-existing IBD (67%), yet many did not seek gastrointestinal (GI) care (38% preconception, 25% during pregnancy) and 33% stopped/changed medications, with 40% not discussing this with a physician. Prior counseling was significantly associated with education level (p = 0.013), biologic use (p = 0.003), and an adequate CCPKnow score (p = 0.01). Overall, 67% of people wanted more information on IBD and reproductive health. Conclusion In an educated tertiary care cohort, the majority of patients had low CCPKnow scores and rates of IBD reproductive health counseling. Many patients with IBD prior to pregnancy reported no GI care preconception or during pregnancy and stopped/changed medications without consulting a physician. There is an urgent need for proactive counseling by gastroenterologists and obstetricians on IBD and reproductive health. Key Points There is inadequate reproductive health counseling in IBD. Many IBD patients do not seek prenatal/perinatal GI care. Patients change medications without consultation. GIs and OBs should proactively counsel IBD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent conservative political rhetoric support women having careers but emphasize that this should not be an obstacle to having children. We propose that this sentiment reflects the hierarchy of gender norms in today's society whereby motherhood is the ultimate role that women are expected to fulfil and denying such role evokes social penalties, above and beyond other prescribed gender norms. Across five experiments (N = 738), we predicted and found that voluntarily childless women elicit more negative reactions than mothers, and importantly, also more than women violating other gender norms in the realm of occupation (Study 1), power (Study 2) or sexual orientation (Study 3). We demonstrate that these patterns cannot be explained merely by a perceived lack of communal qualities of the non‐mothers (Study 4) and also show that involuntary childless women do not receive the same negativity (Study 5). We discuss this, often neglected, gender bias and its resistance to social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study examines the clinical determinants of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Specifically, it investigates whether distinct clinical profiles of hospitalized patients can be discerned, what other characteristics they are linked with, and which profiles predict involuntary admission. Methods: In this cross‐sectional multicentre population study, data were collected for 1067 consecutive admissions in all public psychiatric clinics of Thessaloniki, Greece, during 12 months. Through Latent Class Analysis distinct patient clinical profiles were established based on Health of the Nation Outcome Scales ratings. The profiles were then correlated with sociodemographic, other clinical, and treatment‐related factors as covariates and admission status as a distal outcome. Results: Three profiles emerged. The "Disorganized Psychotic Symptoms" profile, combining positive psychotic symptomatology and disorganization, included mainly men, with previous involuntary hospitalizations and poor contact with mental health services and adherence to medication, indicating a deteriorating condition and chronic course. Τhe "Active Psychotic Symptoms" profile included younger persons with positive psychotic symptomatology in the context of normal functioning. The "Depressive Symptoms" profile, characterized by depressed mood coupled with nonaccidental self‐injury, included mainly older women in regular contact with mental health professionals and treatment. The first two profiles were associated with involuntary admission and the third with voluntary admission. Conclusions: Identifying patient profiles allows the examination of the combined effect of clinical, sociodemographic, and treatment‐related characteristics as risk factors for involuntary hospitalization, moving beyond the variable‐centered approach mainly adopted to date. The identification of two profiles associated with involuntary admission necessitates the development of interventions tailored to chronic patients and younger persons suffering from psychosis respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, secrecy and stigma are associated with infertility and adoption choice. This paper presents the findings of a phenomenological study which examined psychological (emotional) and socio-cultural experiences of seven Indian adoptive parents through the retrospective accounts of their pre-adoption phase. This phase analyzed the coping of childless couples with a diagnosis of primary/secondary infertility while undergoing various assisted reproductive techniques for several years and then opting for adoption. Amidst the deep-seated socio-cultural belief in pronatalism, a non-kinship domestic adoption process was followed as an alternative to biological parenthood. An interpretative phenomenological analysis highlighted the pertinent themes related to gender differences in grief resolution, surrogacy vs. adoption option, belief in theory of 'karma' (destiny), perception of body image and role of women in adoption initiation. The themes are further supported by the views of Indian adoption social workers and the medical professionals, to have the holistic framework of the psychological journey of pre-adoptive couples. These findings would be particularly relevant not only for researchers in South Asian/Southeast Asian countries where the area of infertility and adoption is under-researched but also for those studying the emotional voyage of childless couples to attain adoptive parenthood in other cultural contexts. The paper recommends the interventions required at the level of government, community, adoption agencies and therapeutic services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the concept of residential co-reasoning, this research explored the role of the next of kin in the residential decision-making of childless older adults in rural China. We examined research questions regarding who, if anyone, had been the significant other(s) during the residential decision-making, and how they conducted the co-reasoning process. A constructivist grounded theory approach was applied, with 27 childless older adults being interviewed. We found that participants tended to choose to age in place if they had a continuous, reliable, and trustworthy relationship with certain members of next of kin, which they referred to as "I have someone at home." Acquiring care from kin was an ongoing negotiation process. Participants applied three types of negotiations: exchanging properties for care from kin; maintaining relational intimacy with kin; and counting on the filial obligation of kin. Otherwise, if care from kin was unavailable, participants tended to relocate to rural institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to enhance the understanding of how the increasing use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has contributed to the increase in the total fertility rate (TFR) and to further delaying childbearing. Moreover, it addresses the gap in the methodology concerning the quantification of the effect of ART on fertility postponement. Czechia is one of few countries that are able to serve for the study of the demographic impacts of ART. ART and non-ART fertility rates were calculated using unique data on all children born in Czechia. Excluding mothers who received cross-border reproductive care, the proportion of ART live births in Czechia has not exceeded 4%. However, without ART the TFR would have stood at just 1.65 instead of 1.71 in 2020. ART significantly contributed to a reduction in childlessness and to the increase in fertility rates at ages over 35. Applying the decomposition method, the contribution of the use of ART to delaying childbearing between 2013 and 2020 was 4%. The findings have important policy implications. ART has the potential to support fertility recovery in the context of delayed childbearing. The findings served to alleviate concerns about the contribution of ART to the further undesired delay of childbearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infertility is considered a major setback for the couple and the increasing magnitude of infertility issues causes life crises with a wide range of sociocultural, emotional, physical, and financial problems. The study aims to assess the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in couples diagnosed with infertility and to determine the relationship, if any, between the severity of depression and anxiety with sociodemographic variables, duration, and treatment of infertility. Setting and Design: This is a descriptive observational study that was carried out in the outpatient department setting of a tertiary care hospital from January "2020 to December" 2020. Aims and Objectives: The study aims at assessing the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in couples diagnosed with infertility and determining the relationship, if any, between the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms and the treatment received for infertility. Materials and Methods: Fifty couples (100 subjects) diagnosed with infertility fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed using specially designed pro forma and relevant scales for assessment. Detailed history regarding symptoms of infertility was taken, and patients were interviewed based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases-10 criteria for depression and anxiety. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale questionnaires were used to measure the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Statistical Analysis: The collected data were coded and entered in a Microsoft Excel sheet. The data were analyzed using Statistical Packages for the Social Science version 21.0 software. The results are presented in a tabular and graphical format. For quantitative data, mean and standard deviation (SD), etc., were calculated. Qualitative data were represented in the form of frequency and percentage. The association between qualitative variables was assessed by Fisher's exact test. Quantitative data were represented using mean ± SD. Analysis of quantitative data between the two groups was done using an unpaired f-test if the data passed the "Normality test" and by Mann-Whitney test if the data failed the "Normality test." P < 0.05 was taken as the level of significance. Results: A statistically significant was found between depression among wives and the support received from their respective spouses and a significant correlation was observed between the duration of infertility with the presence of depression and anxiety among couples (P < 0.01). A significant correlation was also observed between the duration of treatment of infertility with the presence of depression and anxiety among couples (P < 0.01). Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety are found to be associated with the support received from the spouse and statistically significant correlation was found between the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety and the duration of infertility and the duration of treatment. No statistically significant relationship was found with the age of the patient, education level, occupation, and number of early issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equitable access to fertility care remains precarious and often dependent upon definitional rhetoric of infertility, which insurance policies and state legislators use to determine access to alternative family building options. This article builds upon prior rhetorical scholarship on infertility by applying an embodied rhetorics framework to capture the resilience infertile persons exhibit when faced with barriers to build their family. To do this, I share a series of texts self-identified infertile advocates produced as they reflected on their encounters with barriers to accessing care and building their families. As a disease that requires self-disclosure as a form of advocacy, I analyze the visual and written texts produced through an embodied rhetorics framework. These texts are forms of public advocacy in that they make visible the multiple embodied misconceptions infertile persons navigate when trying to build one's family. I discuss these texts as illustrating "misconception fatigue" which is affective toll that accumulates when advocating for one's reproductive right to have a family. I conclude by encouraging other rhetorical scholars committed to reproductive justice to adopt an embodied rhetorics framework to their scholarship and develop participatory research projects to support the advocacy needs of marginalized reproductive health communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research has documented a relationship between parity and all-cause mortality, as well as parity and cause-specific mortality (e.g. cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality). Less is known about the relationship between parity and two very common (but less deadly) types of disorder: mental and musculoskeletal. We examine the association between parity and risk of disability pensioning from all causes and due to mental or musculoskeletal disorders, using Norwegian register data. In addition to controlling for adult socio-demographic characteristics, we control for unobserved confounding from family background by estimating sibling fixed-effects models. We find a higher risk of disability pensioning among the childless and those with one child than for parents with two children, both for all causes combined and for mental disorders. Childless men and fathers with one child also experience excess risk of being pensioned due to musculoskeletal disorders. For mental disorders, we find a positive association with high parity, particularly for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses income accumulated over ages 20–60 to examine whether richer or poorer individuals have more children. Income histories are calculated using yearly administrative register data from contemporary Sweden for cohorts born 1940–70. Differences by parity and income distribution are examined separately by sex. There is a strong positive gradient between accumulated disposable income (and to a lesser extent earnings) and fertility for men in all cohorts and a gradual transformation from a negative to a positive gradient for women. In particular, accumulated incomes are substantially lower for childless men and women than those with children. For men, fertility increases monotonically with increasing income, whereas for women much of the positive gradient results from low fertility among women with very low accumulated incomes in later cohorts. Most of the positive income–fertility gradient can be explained by the high incomes of men and women with two to four children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies show that body mass index during early adulthood ('early BMI') predicts the transition to first birth, but early childbearers tend to be omitted from such studies. This sample selection distorts the prevalence of childlessness, and particularly the racial/ethnic heterogeneity therein, because first birth timing differs by race/ethnicity. We imputed pre-parenthood early BMI for a larger sample, including early childbearers, for the same United States NLSY79 data used in a previous study and simulated differences in the probability of childlessness at age 40+ using posterior distributions based on the Bayesian framework. Obesity was consistently associated with higher childlessness across racial/ethnic groups in both sexes, but only among obese women were first births delayed until after early adulthood. The overall lower childlessness among the underweight women appeared largely driven by Black women. Our findings on the intersectionality of race/ethnicity and sex in the BMI–childlessness pathways encourage research on the underlying mechanisms and on more recent cohorts across different societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death of a parent during childhood has become rare in developed countries but remains an important life course event that may have consequences for family formation. This paper describes the link between parental death before age 18 and fertility outcomes in adulthood. Using the large national 2011 French Family Survey (INSEE–INED), we focus on the 1946–66 birth cohorts, for whom we observe entire fertility histories. The sample includes 11,854 respondents who have lost at least one parent before age 18. We find a strong polarization of fertility behaviours among orphaned males, more pronounced for those coming from a disadvantaged background. More often childless, particularly when parental death occurred in adolescence, some seem to retreat from parenthood. But orphaned men and women who do become parents seem to embrace family life, by beginning childbearing earlier and having more children, especially when the deceased parent is of the same sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of health in the Hebrew Bible, emphasizing that God is seen as the ultimate source of health and well-being. It discusses the role of prayer in healing, the biblical view of sickness as a form of divine punishment, and the limited role of doctors and physicians in biblical times, where healing was ultimately attributed to God.

Background: Women with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) have fewer children and stay childless more often. The decision-making process around family planning choices remains incompletely understood. Methods: We examined family status in women who at recruitment to the UK IBD Bioresource had not had children yet via an electronic survey. The primary outcome was the proportion of women with voluntary childlessness. Secondary outcomes were factors associated with family planning status. Results: Of 326 responders, 10.7% had either given birth, were currently pregnant or were currently trying to conceive; 12.6% were planning to conceive within 12 months; 54.4% were contemplating conception in the distant future (vague plans); and 22.3% were voluntarily childless. Factors associated with family planning status fell into three areas: general background (age, household income, perceived support to raise a child), relationship status (sexual orientation, being single, not cohabiting, perception of being 'in the right relationship to raise a child', perception of a good sex life) and the expression of having a child as a goal in life. On binary logistics regression analysis with voluntary childlessness versus vague family plans as the outcomes of choice, having a household income of <£30,000 (p = 0.046), not seeing a child as a life goal (p < 0.0001) and identifying as lesbian or bisexual (p = 0.047) were independent predictors of voluntary childlessness. Conclusions: Clinicians should consider sexual orientation, income, younger age, current relationship and lack of expression of having a child as a life goal as important factors for family planning when providing care. Pre-pregnancy advice should be made widely available for women with IBD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because many involuntarily childless people have equal interests in benefitting from assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization as a mode of treatment, we have normative reasons to ensure inclusive access to such interventions for as many of these people as is reasonable and possible. However, the prevailing eligibility criterion for access to assisted reproductive technologies—'infertility'—is inadequate to serve the goal of inclusive access. This is because the prevailing frameworks of infertility, which include medical and social infertility, fail to precisely capture and unify the relevance of certain involuntarily childless experiences as warranting assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. I argue that the least we can do for those who have an interest in accessing ARTs is to conceptualize involuntarily childless experiences in dialogue with interactionist and ecological models of disability, to outline a unified and more inclusive eligibility criterion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many resources exist to explain financial planning challenges for the average person. But not many discussions focus on individuals or couples who are child-free or childless, often referred to as Solo Agers. This article examines the planning areas (financial and non-financial) that are most important for Solo Agers to focus on to maximize the probability of a life well-lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, including a pre‐pandemic baseline and seven survey waves between May 2020 and September 2021. Fixed effects panel regression models are run over more than 11,000 individuals, distinguishing among women and men with young children (<5 years), older children (5–15 years), or no children in the household. We hypothesize that declines in life satisfaction during the first lockdown are sharper among parents, whose domestic demands increase, than among the childless. We develop competing hypotheses that parents might be resilient and have higher life satisfaction during the later phases of the pandemic (Adaptation Hypothesis) or that the pandemic stressors accumulate, leading to even lower satisfaction over time (Accumulation Hypothesis). The results only support the Accumulation Hypothesis among mothers. Whereas mothers fared comparatively well during the first lockdown, further pandemic stressors have seemingly exhausted their resilience, leading to stronger declines during the winter 2020/2021 lockdown. Among men with older children and without children, life satisfaction decreased during the first and subsequent lockdowns. Men with young children were the only group with almost unchanged life satisfaction throughout the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How older persons react to high-stakes decisions concerning their finance and healthcare depends a great deal on their orientation towards risk-taking. This study examines the associations between parenthood status, family size, and risk attitudes in late adulthood based on nationally-representative data from the Singapore Life Panel. Multivariate analyses are employed to estimate how older adults' willingness to take risks in the general, financial, and health domains varies by gender and among childless individuals and parents of different family size. Older mothers are found to be less risk tolerant than their childless counterparts across the three risk domains. Conversely, mothers with more children demonstrate greater risk tolerance than mothers with fewer children. We find no evidence that older men's risk attitudes vary by parenthood status and family size. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding individual and societal well-being in the context of rapid fertility decline and population aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between mothers and females who were voluntarily or involuntarily childless, across their reproductive years. Methods: 4100 females born in 1973–78 from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were followed for 22 years. Motherhood status was defined by females' reports in Survey 8 (2018, 40–45 years) on their fertility, attempts to conceive, use of in vitro fertilization and fertility hormones, and number of children. HRQoL was assessed in each survey using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36). Linear mixed models were used to assess the associations between motherhood status and HRQoL. Results: Over 22 years, compared with females who were voluntarily childless, mothers on average had better HRQoL (shown by scores 1.5 to 3.4 points higher on five of the eight SF-36 subscales), while females who were involuntarily childless scored 2.2 to 3.0 points lower on three of eight SF-36 subscales. Compared with females who were voluntarily childless, teen mothers (age at first birth < 20 years) scored lower on role limitations due to physical problems subscale (b = -5.5, 95% CI: -9.3, -1.6), while females with either two, or three or more children scored 1.6 to 4.8 points higher on seven of eight SF-36 subscales. Conclusions: Females who were childless had poorer HRQoL than mothers. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms, which could inform policymakers on how to reduce the health disparities and improve long-term health outcomes for females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite social expectations of parenthood, the proportion of people in the Western world who wish to have children is declining, and the proportion who do not want children is growing. We explored the effect of being "childfree by choice" on women's subjective well-being (SWB) by examining their level of differentiation of self, based on Bowen's family system theory. Fifty-one voluntarily child-free women and 62 mothers (control group) completed a demographic information questionnaire, the Personal Wellbeing Index – Adult (PWI-A), and the Differentiation of Self-Inventory – Revised (DSI-R). No differences were found between child-free women and mothers for four components of differentiation of self and life satisfaction and well-being. Women who chose to remain childfree for internal reasons expressed higher levels of satisfaction with life and SWB, and lower levels of emotional reactivity than those who remained childfree for external reasons. Self-differentiation (I-position) and emotional disengagement (emotional cutoff) significantly contributed to child-free women's well-being. Our results show the importance of emphasizing self-differentiation and emotional disengagement in the context of personal and marital therapy sessions and in therapeutic work with young women facing major life decisions on motherhood/voluntary childlessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan has registered an extremely low fertility rate during the past decades. Against this demographic trend, this study provides empirical evidence from an age-period-cohort analysis of the changing trends in acceptance of childlessness and singlehood during 2005-2020. Challenging the generational replacement hypothesis, the present study shows that the period effect is more consistent and substantial than the modest disparities across generations in accounting for increased support for unconventional values toward marriage and having children. In a gendered difference perspective, females who have a higher level of education and are more highly-skilled workers, compared to their male counterparts, are more likely to endorse such new values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, Lamoreaux relates China's late-twentieth-century economic reform to subsequent "sperm panic" and concerns for genotoxicity, or that sperm might transmit "damaged genes" due to toxic industrial pollutants (pp. 22-26). Lamoreaux writes that although this gametic genotoxicity posed existential concerns for China's reproductive future, it proposed a promising - and fundable - area of research for toxicologists. The book contemplates five environments in each of its chapters: (1) the national environment, (2) the hormonal environment, (3) the dietary environment, (4) the maternal environment, and (5) the laboratory environment. [Extracted from the article]

In the post‐Recession era, U.S. fertility rates have continued to fall. It is unclear if these declines are driven by shifts in fertility goals or growing difficulty in achieving goals. In this paper, we construct synthetic cohorts of men and women to examine both cross‐cohort and within‐cohort changes in fertility goals using multiple cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth. Although more recent cohorts exhibit lower achieved fertility at younger ages than earlier cohorts at the same age, intended parity remains around two children, and intentions to remain childless rarely exceed 15 percent. There is weak evidence of a growing fertility gap in the early 30s, suggesting more recent cohorts will need considerable childbearing in the 30s and early 40s to "catch up" to earlier goals, yet low‐parity women in their early 40s are decreasingly likely to have unfulfilled fertility desires or intentions to have children. Low‐parity men in their early 40s, though, are increasingly likely to intend children. Declines in U.S. fertility thus seem to be largely driven not by changes in early‐life fertility goals so much as either a decreasing likelihood of achieving earlier goals or, perhaps, shifts in the preferred timing of fertility that depress period measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gendered and classed working, parenting and other life contexts create multifaceted interactions between quantitative (including time and effort-intensive) and qualitative (including needs, interests, aspirations and identities) work and life contexts. This research aimed to understand mothers, fathers and childless women and men's gendered and classed strategies for managing multifaceted work and life interactions in their multilevel contexts. The research consisted of a qualitative case study of a large Australian organisation that ostensibly prioritised diversity and inclusion and offered flexible working arrangements to all employees. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse forty-seven employees' responses to open-ended questions in a self-administered questionnaire, combined with iterative in-depth interviews with 10 employees. The findings suggested mothers, fathers, childless women and men's nuanced strategies for managing multifaceted work–life interactions were explained by multilevel continua of "choices" between incompatible quantitative and qualitative work and life contexts, embedded in gendered and classed individual, family, community, organisational and societal constraints, enablers and consequences, which inhibited agency to make genuine work–life choices. These "choices" reflected and reinforced societally and organisationally hegemonic working, mothering, fathering and childlessness discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision of whether to grow old in one's home (also referred to as ageing in place (AIP)) or relocating to an institution is an ongoing negotiation process, which involves residential decisions and adaptation. This research aims to explore how childless older adults in rural China choose between AIP and institutionalisation. Through a qualitative study conducted in rural China among childless older adults, we explored the reasons why they make certain residential choices and how they adapted during the decision process. Twenty-five childless participants (aged 60–83) were interviewed. Findings suggested that they referred to the term ku (literally meaning 'bitterness'; and a metaphor referring to 'conducting farming and farm-related activities') to explain their residential decisions. If a person could endure ku – sustain food and basic living through farming and farm-related activities, they tended to choose to age in place; otherwise, they chose to relocate to institutions. Ku represents a sense of mastery, encompassing the stressfulness and suffering aspect that requires adaptation. Three adaptive strategies were identified: (a) positive reappraising of the negative aspect of ku , (b) routinising ku , and (c) transcending the narrative of ku into a toughness identity. Our findings suggest that childless older adults struggled to achieve residential mastery while making residential decisions, even though a sense of mastery was shaped by the individual and structural constrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]