Childless Individuals Research Articles

Social networks and support for parents and childless adults in the second half of life: Convergence, divergence, or stability?

Abstract Building on previous cross-sectional research that shows childless individuals tend to have smaller networks and receive less support than parents in later life, we compare the dynamics of network size and support patterns for these two groups during the second half of their lives, that is, starting at age 40. We expect that childless older adults are likely to have more friends and collateral kin in their networks than parents, and that, due to the different composition of their networks, they experience a steeper decline in network size and available support than parents. Based on data from four panel waves of the German Ageing Survey (between 1996 and 2011), and employing fixed-effects panel regression models, we find a surprising degree of similarity in the network and support trajectories of parents and childless adults as they age. Childless adults neither experience a steeper decline in network size nor a greater reduction in social support than parents do. Compared against previous research, our findings counter the rather one-sided negative view of childless adults that depicts them as socially isolated and utterly lacking in support. Our results further provide indirect evidence that some childless people not only successfully substitute friends and collateral kin for children and lineal kin, but also seem to have ties that are more efficient in providing them with support. Limitations of our sample size prevented us from conducting a gender-specific analysis and from studying care giving as type of support that is often provided through social relationships in late life.

Policy Levers to Increase Jobs and Increase Income from Work after the Great Recession

The depth of the Great Recession, the slow recovery of job creation, the downward trend in labor force participation, high long-term unemployment, stagnant or declining wages for low-to-medium skill jobs owing to adverse labor demand shifts, and a greater rebound in low-wage than mid- or higher-wage jobs, raised concerns that the normal business cycle dynamics of recovery from the recession will be insufficient to offset the diminished labor market prospects of many workers. These concerns have spurred serious consideration of policies to encourage job creation and higher income from work beyond the more immediate countercyclical policies that were adopted in response to Great Recession. Among the policies generating continuing or renewed interest are hiring credits, higher (sometimes much higher) minimum wages, and a more substantial Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless individuals. This paper discusses these policy options, what we know about their likely effects and tradeoffs, and what the unanswered questions are; the focus is on U.S. evidence.

Marital status, childlessness, and social support among older Canadians.

Despite evidence of increasing diversification of family structures, little is known regarding implications of marital and parental status for access to social support in later life. Using data from Statistics Canada's 2007 General Social Survey, this study assessed the impact of marital and parental status intersections on social support among adults aged 60 and older (n = 11,503). Two-stage probit regression models indicated that among those who were currently married or separated/divorced, childless individuals were more likely to report instrumental (domestic, transportation) and emotional support from people outside the household. Conversely, among never-married or widowed older adults, being childless was associated with reduced domestic support but without differences in other support domains. Findings suggest that marital and parental status intersections are not uniformly positive, neutral, or negative regarding implications for extra-household social support. Future work should address complexities of these relationships in order to better understand rapidly changing family structures.

Long-term trends of men’s co-residence with children in England and Wales

AbstractBACKGROUNDIncreasing numbers of childless men as well as with reduced or no contact with their children have sparked concern about an erosion of fatherhood. Although the general trend is undisputed, claims about men's decreasing family involvement lack a sound empirical basis that enables comparisons between countries and sub-groups of society.OBJECTIVEThis study derives long-term trends in father-child co-residence over the life course in England and Wales, and provides comparisons of these trends by level of education and ethnic origin.METHODSThe paper calculates shares of father-child co-residence from the National Statistics Longitudinal Study (LS) and the British Labour-Force Surveys (LFS).RESULTSThere has been a decline of father-child co-residence in England and Wales for men in their thirties, an even greater decline for men in their twenties, and a small increase in the shares of father-child co-residence at higher ages. The trends for different educational groups were similar, but men with a degree had particularly low rates of father-child co-residence at younger ages, and relatively high ones at older ages. Neither less-educated men, nor men from Black-Caribbean and Black-African origins showed rates of father-child co-residence as low as one might have expected.CONCLUSIONSThe steady decline of father-child co-residence among men born between 1930 and 1979 in England and Wales lends support to claims about an erosion of fatherhood. However, it is unwarranted to generalize findings from other countries about particularly low levels of father-child co-residence among less-educated men to men in England and Wales.(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. IntroductionIn all developed societies, the Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe 1995, van de Kaa 1987) has changed the structure of men and women's life courses. Among the outcome of these transformations are the declining proportions of men living with children of their own, and the number of years of life that men live with their children. These trends have been well documented for the United States (Eggebeen and Uhlenberg 1985, King 1999, Eggebeen 2002, Goldscheider, Hogan, and Bures 2001, Hogan and Goldscheider 2001). In addition, Jensen (1998, 1999) has presented data for a number of European countries - excluding Britain - about the low shares of men in their twenties living with children.The drop in father-child co-residence is one of main bases of claims about fathers pulling out of family life' ( George and Gold 1991) and of shrinking fatherhood' (Jensen 1999). These claims have been linked to a number of problems at the individual and the societal level. A comprehensive body of literature has studied the potentially negative consequences of father absence for child development and well-being (Amato 2000; Lamb 2010). More recently there have been investigations into how fatherhood affects men's own well-being. The few studies addressing this issue indicated a better social integration and closer family ties of (Eggebeen and Knoester 2001; Keizer, Dykstra, and Poortman 2010). Furthermore, it has been argued that a decreasing involvement of in bringing up their children leads to an increased burden on women, who have to shoulder their stronger labour-market engagement without relief from their roles in the home (Jensen 1999). On the societal level, the concerns about increasing numbers of men not living with children of their own are related to claims of a polarization of society into a declining family sector and a diverse non-family sector (Daly 2005). The problems of combining full employment with bringing up children make families more economically vulnerable than childless individuals. With decreasing numbers of parents among employees, this raises fears that work-place culture might become less family friendly. …

Parental Status and Subjective Well-Being Among Currently Married Individuals in China

Using data from the 2006 Chinese General Social Survey ( N = 2,515), we examine the relationship between parental status and subjective well-being among Chinese adults who are in their first marriages. After accounting for background characteristics, parents and childless individuals do not report significantly different feelings of well-being. When parental status is disaggregated according to family structure, parents of adult children only report higher levels of subjective well-being than both parents of minor children and the childless. The number of daughters is positively associated with feelings of well-being. Furthermore, the effects of coresiding with adult children appear to depend on whether one has minor children in the household. Coresident adult children are positively associated with well-being when minor children are also present but are negatively associated with well-being when minor children are not present.

PARENTHOOD AND RETIREMENT

ABSTRACT This study uses retrospective life-history data from the SHARELIFE project for an initial assessment of the long-term relationship between individuals' reproductive history and retirement in 13 Continental European countries, focussing in particular on possible gender, cohort, and welfare regime differences. Our analysis provides some weak evidence that having (more) children is associated with later retirement among men, reflecting a continuation of the male provider role well into the late career phase. When distinguishing between women born before and after 1940, we detect striking cohort differences in retirement behaviours of mothers and childless individuals: while mothers belonging to the older cohorts tend to exit the labour force later than their childless counterparts, those born post-1940 exhibit a greater propensity to enter retirement earlier. This finding is discussed against the background of cross-national (i.e., welfare regime) differences in younger mothers' employment opportunities as well as differential economic and institutional opportunities for women (mothers, respectively) to retire early. We conclude with suggestions for future research.

Social Network Characteristics of Early Midlife Voluntarily and Involuntarily Childless Couples

Whether couples have children or remain childless has largely been associated with individual and couple characteristics. We propose that the broader social network additionally differentiates between parents and childless couples, particularly between involuntarily and voluntarily childless couples. In light of this, we studied social network differences and their interplay with dyadic and individual characteristics in three types of couples with and without children, in a sample of 248 German early-midlife adults ( n = 41 voluntarily childless, n = 35 involuntarily childless, n = 48 traditional parental dyads). A multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that social network characteristics distinguished between voluntarily and involuntarily childless individuals. Additionally, attitudes toward children differed substantially across types of couples, whereas levels of partnership distress did not. Findings provide new insights into the significance of the social network above and beyond dyadic and individual characteristics in early-midlife couples with and without children.

Personal effort in social relationships across adulthood.

We explored age differences in the amount of personal effort that people put forth to maintain relationships across adulthood in diverse family-life contexts. More specifically, we examined how personal effort in social relationships is age-differently related to emotional closeness and perceptions of reciprocity. A total of 658 early-midlife (37 years) and old-age adults (73 years) from three life contexts (biological parents, parents from blended families with at least one stepchild, childless individuals) completed a questionnaire assessing ego-centered social networks, relationship quality, perceived conflict, and personal characteristics. As expected, perceived relationship effort was more pronounced and more strongly associated with emotional closeness in old age than in early midlife. In both age groups, perceived effort was comparably associated with reciprocity and conflict. Such associations were similar across the different life contexts. The findings suggest that perceived personal effort in social relationships contributes to the proactive shaping of social worlds across adulthood.

Childless Elders in Assisted Living: Findings from the Maryland Assisted Living Study

We compared data drawn from a random sample of 399 current assisted living residents and a subsample of 222 newly admitted residents for two groups: childless residents and residents with children. The percentage of childless residents (26%) in our study was slightly higher than U.S. population estimates of childless individuals aged 65 years and older (20%). In the overall sample, the two groups differed significantly by age, race, and women's years of education. The childless group was slightly younger, had a higher percentage of African American residents, and had more years of education than the group with children. In the subsample, we looked at demographic, functional, financial, and social characteristics and found that childless residents reported fewer diagnoses of dementia and fewer visits from a relative but more reported paying less money per month for assisted living and having private insurance than residents with children. As childlessness among older adults continues to increase, it will become increasingly important to understand how child status affects the need for and experience of long-term care.

Should International Migration Be Encouraged to Offset Population Aging? A Cross-Country Analysis of Public Attitudes in Europe

Concerns about population aging in Europe have occupied the attention of policy makers and demographers for over a decade. Some policy makers have proposed increased immigration to offset the aging of the population (i.e., replacement migration). However, demographers have estimated that a very high (and likely untenable) level of immigration would be required, and little is known about whether the national publics of Europe would support international migration as a potential solution to population aging. Using Eurobarometer data from 2006 and concurrent country-level measures from Eurostat, this study examines individual- and contextual-level factors related to public attitudes toward immigration as an effective solution to the problem of population aging in the current 27 member countries of the European Union. Results from multilevel logit analyses indicate that urban, university-educated, and childless individuals are consistently more likely than others to endorse replacement migration. Countries with more prosperous economies and proportionally fewer foreign-born residents also show more supportive attitudes. Such results echo research on anti-immigrant sentiment, suggesting considerable public resistance to population policies that might encourage large-scale immigration. At the same time, these findings show consistent patterns of endorsement despite demographers’ criticism of the concept of replacement migration and concerns about developing alternative long-term strategies.

Social contacts and receipt of help among older people in England: are there benefits of having more children?

To investigate whether number of children and, among parents, having a daughter is associated with older people's likelihood of at least weekly face-to-face social contact and later receipt of help if needed. Multivariate analysis of data from Waves 1 and 2 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Older parents in England had higher chances of at least weekly face-to-face social contact than their childless counterparts but larger family size had only a slight additional effect. For parents, having at least one daughter was more important than number of children. Larger family size was positively associated with receipt of help from a child by parents with activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) limitations. Childless women were more likely than mothers to receive help from friends but even so had lower odds of receiving help from any informal source. Contact with a child in 2002 predicted receipt of help 2 years later. These results show some advantages for older parents compared with childless individuals in terms of social contact and receipt of help and, among parents, an additional effect of having a daughter. Changes in family size distributions have implications for the support of older people and for planners of formal services.

Parenthood, Marital Status, and Well-Being in Later Life: Evidence from SHARE

Using pooled cross-sectional data from the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we address the question of whether and how parenthood and marital status are associated with various dimensions of elders’ well-being, which we define by elements of the individual’s economic situation, psychological well-being, and social connectedness. The results of our multivariate analysis suggest that childless individuals do not generally fare worse than parents in terms of their economic, psychological, or social well-being. Although there is some indication for a ‘protective effect’ of marriage, having a partner does not per se contribute to greater psychological well-being: only those reporting satisfaction with the extent of reciprocity in their relationship report lower numbers of depression symptoms than their unmarried counterparts. We observe no systematic associations between parenthood (marriage, respectively) and individuals’ propensity to participate in social activities. These findings are fairly stable, that is, they hold for both men and women as well as across various cohorts, and they do not vary systematically between countries.

The influences of childlessness on the psychological well-being and social network of the oldest old

BackgroundThe ELSA 85 project is a population-based study with the purpose to learn more about the "elderly elderly". The aim of this part of the ELSA 85 study is to explore the effects of childlessness on the psychological wellbeing, living situation and social support of 85-year old individuals.MethodsA postal questionnaire was sent to all (650) 85-year old men and women living in Linköping Municipality in 2007. Psychological well-being and social network was measured using a number of questions.Results496 individuals participated in the study. No differences in psychological wellbeing were found between the 85-year olds who were childless and those who were parents. The childless 85-year olds were less likely to have relatives close by and to receive help than those who were parents. Individuals of both groups were equally likely to end up in institutional care, to have friends close by and to be in contact with neighbours.ConclusionsEven though elderly childless individuals have social networks of less support potential than those who are parents there are no differences in certain psychological wellbeing indicators between the two groups. Apparently, childless elderly individuals find ways to cope with whatever negative effects of childlessness they may have experienced.

Educational Homogamy Lowers the Odds of Reproductive Failure

Assortative mating based on education is a common phenomenon. We investigated whether it affected parameters of reproductive performance such as childlessness, offspring number and age at first marriage. On the basis of the US census from 1980 (n = 670,631 married US couples), we find that the proportion of childless individuals is usually minimal in women married to a husband of the same educational level. This holds particularly true in the highest and the lowest educated women. Educational homogamy is also associated with a lower average age at first marriage. No obvious effect of educational homogamy on a woman's average offspring number is found, where mean offspring number generally increases both with decreasing woman's and decreasing husband's educational attainment. We conclude that educational homogamy reduces the likelihood of reproductive failure.

The emotions of oncologists

Emotions are parts of organizational reality to an ever increasing extent. Importantly, they are not just tools in the hand of healthcare workers to achieve better physician / healthcare professional-to-patient interactions but intrinsic processes and characteristics with psychic, cognitive and somatic actions. For a thorough investigation of the issue, a PANAS-X questionnaire was used to examine the emotions of 187 physicians and other healthcare professionals, all engaged in oncology, in 2009. The research succeeded in exploring the overall emotional state oncology professionals had assumed in relation with their job as well as enabled the authors of this study to draw the respondents' emotional map and assess their fundamental emotional attitudes. Furthermore, the authors managed to identify groups of respondents that had felt more intense positive, and/or less intense negative emotions that are socially accepted than others. They included those of senior experienced oncologists, males, individuals with families, childless individuals, ward workers, and skilled professionals. According to the findings, the range of emotions an oncologist experiences / feels intently during his everyday work is dependent upon a great number of factors.

Childlessness and Norms of Familial Responsibility in the Netherlands

Using data from the second wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS) for 3069 female and 2096 male respondents, we studied differences in norms of universal and of personal familial responsibility between childless individuals and parents. Differences depend on the type of norm studied. Childless individuals, and in most cases only those who opt voluntarily for a childless life, express weaker norms of universal familial responsibility in comparison with parents. Women’s norms of personal familial responsibility do not vary by parental status. Men appear to need the presence of children to activate feelings of personal responsibility for family members. Differences between childless individuals and parents are attributable to selection rather than to adaptation. The theoretical and social implications of our findings are discussed.

Après nous le Déluge: fertility and the intensity of struggle against immigration

This paper is inspired by a puzzling empirical fact that, despite the importance of controlling migration for their future, the host countries allocate very limited amounts of resources to the struggle against illegal immigration. The present model analyzes this issue in the context of low fertility in the host countries and suggests a novel channel though which the intensity of the struggle against immigration can be related to fertility. The analysis shows that, for childless individuals, who have no reason to care about the future, it is optimal to contribute less to the costly immigration-prevention measures.

Health of Aging Parents and Childless Individuals

This article reviews and presents research findings on the relationships between parenthood and health over the life span. Existing research shows lacunae. The links between reproductive behavior and longevity generally focus on family size rather than contrasting parents and nonparents. Studies of marital status differentials in survival generally confound the effects of parenthood and marital status. Studies of the effects of multiple roles (combining parenthood, marriage, and employment) have the drawback that parenthood is equated with currently having children in the home. The authors provide new evidence on the health of people who have reached old age, contrasting those with and without children, in an attempt to tease out the effects of parenthood, marital status, and gender. Data from Australia, Finland, and the Netherlands are used. Insofar as parenthood effects are found, they pertain to health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical exercise), providing evidence for the social control influences of parenthood.

The effects of sex and childlessness on the association between status and reproductive output in modern society

Examining the association between socioeconomic status and reproductive output in modern societies has led to conflicting results. In this study, we used a representative sample of contemporary Swedish men and women to analyze possible reasons for the contradictory results. We found that the relationship between socioeconomic status—described here by income and highest educational level attained—and reproductive output is dependent on sex and the inclusion or exclusion of childless individuals. In men, there is a strong positive association between income/education and average offspring count if childless individuals are included in the analysis; this association is absent when such individuals are excluded. We attribute this reversal mainly to the higher proportion of childless individuals among men of lower socioeconomic background. Among other factors, female choice appears to be a major cause of this association because the proportion of men who never married increased with decreasing income category and educational level. In women, however, including and excluding childless individuals both yielded a negative association between income and average offspring count as well as a null or negative relationship between education and average offspring count.

Copingstijl en sociale steun in relatie tot distress en het rouwproces bij definitieve ongewenste kinderloosheid

Despite all medical fertility techniques, around ten percent of all couples remains involuntarily childless. A period of grief and mourning follows due to an invisible loss. The involuntarily childless woman or man often experiences insufficient social support, which further aggravates the distress symptoms such as physical health problems, anxiety, depression, as well as complicated mourning. This study investigates the association of coping style and the degree of satisfaction regarding social support from primary support groups with the mourning process of involuntarily childless individuals. The sample group (116 persons) filled out a questionnaire consisting of the following measurement instruments: scales from the Utrecht Coping List (Utrechtse CopingLijst, UCL), the discrepancy and interaction variants of the Social Support List - (Sociale Steun Lijst, SSL-D and SSL-I), the short version Questionnaire on Experienced Health (verkorte VOEG-21), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the, for this research adapted, Questionnaire Grief (Vragenlijst Rouw). Correlation analysis results in a significant relation between coping style and the symptoms of distress and complicated mourning as well as between the coping styles and satisfaction about peer support. Regression analysis shows a stronger relation between a passive coping style and the consequences of distress and mourning than between an active coping style and the consequences of distress and mourning. In addition, a significant relationship is found between satisfaction about received social support and the consequences of distress and mourning. A moderating association of perceived social support is only found between a passive coping style and physical health complaints.