More and more of them are sending out the diktats when it comes to parenthood. An American study has just confirmed this phenomenon and is advancing ways to explain it.
Not wanting a child is still a taboo subject in our societies, especially when the decision comes from a woman. Procreation is perceived by the collective imagination as a compulsory rite of passage for the completion of a life. However, no offense to some, having children is not everyone’s dream, the proof is: more and more people are assuming they don’t want them.
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This reality has just been confirmed by an American scientific study, carried out by researchers at the University of Michigan and published in the journal Plos One. Based on the responses to a questionnaire of 1000 young adults, the results are edifying. A quarter (25%) of them said they did not want a child. In a statement, the psychologists who wrote the study, Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary Neal, point out that“being a parent is one of the greatest joys in life, but not for everyone”. The percentage obtained is all the more significant as in previous studies, the rate of people who did not want or did not have children by choice was from 2 to 9%.
Note that the study is based on responses from a population living only in Michigan, but the scientific team still believes that the findings are applicable to other rich countries.
Happy anyway
One of the approaches of the study is particularly interesting to observe, in particular with regard to the prejudices faced by people who do not want children. Indeed, often described as sad people who will end up alone, full of regrets, the results of the questionnaire show, however, that this choice does not prevent them “from always being happy”.
Testimonial: I don’t want a child, so what?
In addition, there are few demographic differences between people with and without children. Concretely, this means that their level of satisfaction with their life does not differ at all between the two groups. On the same idea, no major difference in terms of personality traits, except that people without children seem to be “more liberal”. Parents, on the other hand, are less warm with those who do not have children.
The Covid-19, big responsible?
As one can easily imagine, the Covid-19 pandemic has passed the envy of many people to welcome a child in the current situation. Anxiety, stress and fear are all negative emotions felt by millions of people, all accompanied by fear of an uncertain future. According to the researchers of the study, this element is a rather serious avenue to exploit, which could explain this sharp increase in people not wanting children.
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However, they indicate that this factor needs to be qualified, since the theme of Covid-19 was only addressed once in the questionnaire. Further studies on the subject will therefore be necessary to confirm or refute this hypothesis.
In France, it is important to remember that the total fertility rate has been falling continuously for six years. It was 1.84 children per woman in 2020, up from 1.86 in 2019.
Barbara ejenguele
A journalism student, Barbara is currently doing a work-study master’s degree and writes on parenthood for the Aufeminin Maman, Parole de Mamans and Avis de Mamans websites. She is also …