CHILDLESSNESS, INTENTIONAL AND UNINTENTIONAL Psychological and Social Aspects

Those who want and have no children are different from and yet similar to those who want children but cannot have them. Childlessness is closely intertwined with such other topics as remaining unmarried and postponing marriage or childbearing. The psychological difference between zero and one child is much greater than that between one and two children. In Western lands today, a child typically makes much more difference in adults' lives than does marriage. Not over 1 or 2 per cent of contemporary marriages in the United States remain intentionally childless, but in depression times the picture was different. This paper stresses possibilities for promoting childlessness to reduce population growth and also the psycho-social causes and effects of childlessness.