Childlessness in the UK

From never partnered to serial cohabitors: Union trajectories to childlessness

“…Childlessness seldom results from a single decision at a young age but more often follows from successive decisions or constraints that lead to continued postponement of parenthood, and the process may be marked by ambivalence and uncertainty (Berrington 2004(Berrington , 2017Miettinen 2010Miettinen , 2015. This pattern also increases the difficulty of distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary childlessness (ibid.).…”

Exploring the childless universe: Profiles of women and men without children in Italy

“…As higher education has become more prevalent the reproductive behaviour of highly educated women has become less differentiated from that of less-educated women (Burkimsher and Zeman 2017). Not having a partner plays a key role in being childless in all birth cohorts (Berrington 2017;Jalovaara and Fasang 2017;Rotkirch and Miettinen 2017). Furthermore, single status is more common in the youngest cohorts of childless people, especially childless men (Köppen, Mazuy, and Toulemon 2017).…”

“…The multiple causes of childlessness include several couple-related factors that apply across countries and genders, including late entry into union, union interruption, and lack of a partner (Berrington 2017;Connidis and McMullin 1996;Jalovaara and Fasang 2017;Parr 2010). Childbearing may also be affected by couples disagreeing on fertility (Tanturri and Mencarini 2007), or the presence of fecundity problems, which may be caused by postponement of parenthood (Letherby 1999).…”

“…The higher a woman's level of education, the more likely she is to remain childless (Berrington 2017;Frejka 2017;Köppen, Mazuy, and Toulemon 2017), whether because of a postponement effect (Bloom and Trussell 1984;Hoem, Neyer, and Andersson 2006;Koropeckyj-Cox and Call 2007) or because being highly educated is an indicator of less traditional attitudes (van de Kaa 1987;Lesthaeghe 1995). Nevertheless, in some countries childlessness is prevalent amongst less-educated women and amongst those who lack socioeconomic resources .…”

“…The incidence of childlessness is low amongst self-employed women because the flexibility of self-employment makes it easier to reconcile family and work obligations (Boden 1999;Connelly 1992;Köppen, Mazuy, and Toulemon 2017). In the case of men, previous research has consistently shown that socioeconomically disadvantaged men, such as the unemployed or those in low-paid jobs, are the most likely to remain childless (Berrington 2017;Keizer, Dykstra, and Poortman 2010;Parr 2010), whilst self-employed men are the least likely (Köppen, Mazuy, and Toulemon 2017).…”