Voluntary Childlessness, Involuntary Childlessness, and Having Children: A Study of Social Perceptions

Investigation of the way husbands and wives were perceived if they were described as having 2 children voluntarily having no children or having no children involuntarily. A social perception paradigm was employed in which a folder was developed containing information about a couple applying for a bank loan in order to purchase a car. 3 versions were constructed differing only with respect to whether the couple was described as having 2 children voluntarily childless or involuntarily childless. After reading 1 version of the folder participants were asked to respond to a series of scales measuring liking perceived psychological disturbance adjectives describing general psychological characteristics and perceived likelihood of getting a divorce within the next 10 years for each of the spouses. Husbands were perceived as more psychologically healthy when they had children than when they had no children regardless of the reason. Wives were liked less and viewed more negatively on general personality descriptors when they were described as voluntarily childless than when they were involuntarily childless. Participants were 76 male and 37 female university students from the southeastern U.S. (Authors modified)