The short guide to aging and gerontology by de Medeiros Kate

Author:de Medeiros, Kate [de Medeiros, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Gerontology
ISBN: 9781447328384
Google: FDFSDQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2016-11-09T03:32:08+00:00

People without children

The phrase ‘people without children’ is being used in lieu of ‘childless’ or ‘childfree’, since both imply values related to having children. In addition, it should be noted that data on people without children is available only for women and is gathered through historical censuses, survey data or vital registrations (Dykstra, 2009). The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2011) reports an increase in women without children who were born in the 1960s or later, as compared to those born in the 1950s. However, other evidence suggests that rates of women without children are not increasing among younger cohorts (those born between 1960 and 1964), as compared to earlier cohorts (Dykstra, 2009) and that the pattern of having children takes on a U shape. For example, in Australia, 31% of women born between 1900 and 1910 did not have children, as compared to 16% for those born between 1960 and 1964. In Finland, 26% of women born between 1905 and 1909 did not have children, as compared to 19% for those born between 1960 and 1964 (Dykstra, 2009). Reasons for the difference could be due to inaccurate records, in both the past and the present. The important aspect of considering people without children is that they are a group who have only recently begun to be the focus of robust research and are not a group often considered in the public discourse about family.

Even when they are studied, people without children are generally limited to women since men’s fertility is more complicated to ascertain. Although research on men without children is lacking, G. Clare Wenger and colleagues (2000), in their study of older people in England who did not have children, found that older men and married couples experienced a negative impact on their social networks. Single women, in contrast, had robust social networks. Since women with higher levels of education are more likely to not have children than are women with lower levels of education, their social networks may be positively affected (OECD, 2011).

Assumptions about familial care, including programs and policies directed at family caregiving, may need to be reconsidered, since many assume a nuclear family model based on child–parent care. Siblings and other friends and relatives as potential sources for instrumental care and social networks among older adults who don’t have children have only recently begun to gain attention (Rubinstein, 1987; Koropeckyj-Cox, 2002; Koropeckyj-Cox & Call, 2007; Dykstra, 2009; Albertini & Mencarini, 2014).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.