Aging Without Children

This issue of Public Policy and Aging Report brings into focus the fact that the “graying” of Western countries is playing out at the backdrop of fundamental rethinking and restructuring of the institution of “the” family. These changes are happening at a time when even countries with a long-standing tradition of generous state-funded social support systems are beginning to shift at least some care obligations away from the state in pursuit of a society based on the principle of individual responsibility (e.g., the Netherlands). The implicit assumption underlying this shift is that family members (and adult children in particular) will step in as needs for care and support arise. However, what does this mean for those individuals who, by choice or involuntarily, do not have children in old age (for an overview of routes into childlessness, see Keizer, Dykstra, & Jansen, 2008; Miettinen, Rotkirch, Szalma, Donno, & Tanturri, 2015)? Different terms have been used to describe this population (childless, child-free, adults without children, and nonparents), and it is important to recognize the potential normative perceptions of family life trajectories that they might convey. Here, we have chosen to use the terms “childless” and “nonparent” entirely in the interest of succinctness.

• View at Publisher

Free Full Text ( Author Manuscript , 58kb )