Childless older adults

Current older adults have historically low levels of childlessness. There has been a tendency to view childless older adults as a problem group, but findings show they are not more prone to poor psychological well-being and social isolation than older parents. At the end of life, however, nonparents are more likely to enter institutional care than parents. To understand the consequences of childlessness for later life it is critical to unravel the interplay of parenthood history, marital history, and gender.