ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLESThis trend is occurring not only in the United
States but in many industrialized countries in Eu-
rope as well. The decline in childbearing there has
been referred to as the ‘‘second demographic
transition’’ (Van de Kaa 1987). Davis (1987) posits
that features of industrial societies weaken the
individual’s desire for children. He lists several
interrelated traits of industrialization, including
the postponement of marriage, cohabitation, and
high rates of divorce, claiming that these trends
decrease the need for both marriage and childbearing.
Remaining childfree is not a new phenome-
non, however. In 1940, for example, 17 percent of
married white women between the ages of thirty-
five and thirty-nine were childfree. Some of these
women were simply delaying parenthood until
their forties; however, many remained childfree.
This percentage began to drop considerably after
World War II, and by the late 1970s only 7 percent
of women in the thirty-five to thirty-nine age group
did not have children. Today the figure has risen
to over 13 percent among this age group (U.S.
Bureau of the Census 1998). This increase is due to
a multitude of factors: delayed childbearing, infertility,
and voluntary childlessness.
An important distinction to make in the dis-
cussion of childlessness is whether the decision
was voluntary or involuntary. Involuntary childlessness
involves those who are infecund or subfecund. For
them, being childfree is not a choice. Unless they
adopt or create some other social arrangement,
they are inevitably committed to this lifestyle.
Voluntary childlessness, the focus of this discus-
sion, involves those who choose to remain childfree.
Large differences exist within members of this
group; early articulators have made their decision
early in their lives and are committed to their
choice. Postponers, on the other hand, begin first by
delaying their childbearing, but wind up being
childfree due to their continual postponement.
Early articulators generally exhibit less stereotypical
gender roles, are more likely to cohabit, and enjoy
the company of children less than do postponers.
Seccombe (1991) found that among married per-
sons under age forty who have no children, wives
are more likely than their husbands to report a
preference for remaining childfree (19 percent
and 13 percent, respectively).
Despite increasing rates of voluntary childlessness,
most research conducted within the United States
documents the pervasiveness of pronatalist senti-
ment. Those who voluntarily opt to remain childfree
are viewed as selfish, immature, lonely, unfulfilled,
insensitive, and more likely to have mental prob-
lems than are those who choose parenthood. In
the past, females, persons with less education,
those with large families of their own, Catholics,
and residents of rural areas were most apt to judge
the childfree harshly. However, more recently,
data from a nationally representative sample sug-
gest that women are more likely to want to remain
childfree than are men (Seccombe 1991).Most studies report that those persons who
opt to remain childfree are well aware of the
sanctions surrounding their decision yet are rarely
upset by them (see Houseknecht 1987 for a re-
view). In her review of twelve studies, Houseknecht
found only three that reported that childfree indi-
viduals had trouble dealing with the reaction from
others. Sanctions apparently are not strong enough
to detract certain persons from what they perceive
as the attractiveness of a childfree lifestyle.
Houseknecht (1987), in a content analysis of twenty-
nine studies reporting the rationales for remain-
ing childfree, identified nine primary motivations.
These are, in order of the frequency in which they
were found: (1) freedom from child-care responsi-
bilities: greater opportunity for self-fulfillment and
spontaneous mobility; (2) more satisfactory mari-
tal relationship; (3) female career considerations;
(4) monetary advantages; (5) concern about popu-
lation growth; (6) general dislike of children; (7)
negative early socialization experience and doubts
about the ability to parent; (8) concern about
physical aspects of childbirth and recovery; and (9)
concern for children given world conditions. Gen-
der differences were evidenced in a number of
areas. Overall, females were more likely to offer
altruistic rationales (e.g., concern about popula-
tion growth, doubts about the ability to parent,
concern for children given world conditions). The
male samples, conversely, were more apt to offer
personal motives (e.g., general dislike of children,
monetary advantages).
The consequences of large numbers of per-
sons in industrialized societies forgoing parent-
hood are profound. For example, the demograph-
ic structure in many countries is in the process of
radical change; populations are becoming increas-
ingly aged. More persons are reaching old age
than ever before, those persons are living longer,