It is not an overstatement to say that a great value is placed on fertility or childbirth in Africa. Couples who have married for say three years without a child, therefore, face moments of anxiety, as people begin to wonder whether there is not something going wrong somewhere. The problem of infertility becomes even more heightened in the African ...
Published in Holiness
This article, based on the author’s doctoral research, offers a theological response to the traditional attitudes towards childlessness within the Bakossi community of South West Cameroon. Research reveals a prevalent negative attitude towards those—both men and women—who do not have children. This stigmatization is often reinforced within Christia...
Published in Demography
After reaching historically low levels among the women born in the early 1940s, childlessness has been increasing in most Western countries among women born in the 1950s and 1960s. This increase took place as patterns of transition to adulthood have become increasingly late, protracted, and complex. Yet, it is precisely those women who enter a firs...
Published in Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
Infertility is perceived by many of those affected by it as one of the most stressful episodes in life. Assisted reproduction can help only some of the people with a desire for children to experience the birth of a biological child. Most people who remain involuntarily childless eventually come to terms with the situation; their psychological well-...
Published in European Journal of Population = Revue Européenne de Démographie
In Norway, as in many other rich countries, childlessness is more common among men than women and has also increased more among men. Over the last 15 years, the gap in childlessness between 45-year-old women and men has widened from 5.8 to 10.2 percentage points, according to national register data. In the Norwegian-born subgroup, the gap has incre...
Published in Indian Journal of Community Medicine : Official Publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine
Introduction: Childlessness is a global concern and it has serious demographic, social, and health implications. The declining Muthuvan child population may reduce their population on the whole. Objective: The study explored the prevalence of childlessness and its underlying reasons in the Muthuvan tribes of Tamil Nadu. Subjects and Methods: The st...
Based on census data from 1980 and 2010 the paper examines trends in childlessness in the region. Results show the coexistence of two opposite trends: a decrease in nulliparity in countries that had low fertility levels in the 1980s and an increase in those with high fertility levels. This paper aims to advance in the interpretation of these counte...
Published in European Journal of Population = Revue Européenne de Démographie
We examine the link between the postponement of parenthood and fertility outcomes among highly educated women in the USA born in 1920–1986, using data from the CPS June Supplement 1979–2016. We argue that the postponement–low fertility nexus noted in demographic and biomedical research is especially relevant for women who pursue postgraduate educat...
Published in Genus
Low fertility and childlessness have been largely interpreted as being driven by the same mechanisms, although they may be qualitatively different phenomena. The present article discusses this assumption and studies determinants of childlessness by comparing them with determinants of low fertility. Drawing on micro-level data from the European Labo...
Published in Women's reproductive health (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Although nulliparous women who are sterilized appear voluntarily “childfree,” the majority report non-contraceptive reasons for their surgical procedure. Using an analytical subsample of the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, we examined 105 women’s closed- and open-ended responses about the reasons for their sterilization surgeries and whether...
