Voluntary and involuntary childlessness in the United States, 1955–1973

Since the early 1970s, considerable attention has been given to U. S. trends in childlessness. Studies have shown that childlessness rates have been increasing in recent years; many believe that the bulk of the increase has been due to increases in voluntary childlessness. However, there have been few methodological and empirical analyses of trends in voluntary and involuntary childlessness. This paper has two objectives: to develop two procedures for measuring voluntary and involuntary childlessness with fertility survey data; and to apply empirically these approaches to five fertility surveys conducted between 1955 and 1973.