Stigmatization of Voluntarily Childfree Women and Men in the UK

People who choose not to have children may face negative social judgment. Using a UK sample, Study 1 ( N = 199) successfully replicated Ashburn-Nardo’s (2017) finding that childfree targets are perceived as less psychologically fulfilled than targets with children. The effect, however, appeared limited to expected decision regret rather than general fulfillment, which was later confirmed in Study 2 ( N = 329). In contrast to Ashburn-Nardo , our results did not indicate that moral outrage mediates the effect (Study 1), but exploratory findings suggested that perceivers who intend to have children of their own perceive the childfree as morally inferior and less likable (Study 2). Participants’ endorsement of conservative values was not consistently related to negative perceptions of childfree targets.

Lived Experiences and Life Satisfaction of ChildFree Women in Late Life

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the overall life satisfaction of older adult women who have not had children. We explore the following questions: (1) What is the overall sense of life satisfaction of childfree women over 65 years of age? (2) What is the lived experience of being a childfree woman in U.S. society? and (3) How does being childfree inform women’s overall life satisfaction? Using a phenomenological research design to analyze data from interviews with 14 childfree women over the age of 65, we found that nearly all participants report a high life satisfaction and many report a strong sense of resiliency, though they also report an awareness of the stigma associated with their status as nonmothers. Implications for both theory and practice are considered.

Psychotherapists' Empathy for Childfree Women of Intersecting Age and Socioeconomic Status

The purpose of the study was to discern the empathy ability of psychotherapists for childfree female clients with intersectional identities. Each participating psychotherapist was randomly assigned to view one of four mock video sessions with a childfree woman of varying age and socioeconomic status (SES). Psychotherapists rated their ability to empathize for the woman in their assigned mocked video. An analysis of variance revealed that psychotherapists experienced higher empathy ability for a childfree woman of younger age and lower SES than for an older and upper-SES childfree woman. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A Comparison of Mothers and Childfree Women on the Common Characteristics of Romantic Love

Since 2009, de Munck, Korotayev, and Khaltourina’s pioneering survey has been used to investigate the cognitive qualities of love across cultures, including Russia, Lithuania, the United States, and China. To date, this survey has not been used to probe these values at a subcultural level. Mothers and childfree women were surveyed with an expanded version of the original survey designed to target potential variations in ideology based upon parental status. Both mothers and childfree women reportedly adhere to the cultural norms of romantic love previously found in the United States, but childfree women were more likely to value pragmatic characteristics of love ( p = .011). Despite this, both groups disagreed with the statement “Career is more important than love,” suggesting norms of romantic love overcome feminist ideals. This is further supported by agreement from both groups on the previously identified “core attributes” that correspond with Fisher’s affective traits of romantic love.