Voluntary childlessness: early articulator and postponing couples

Abstract

SummaryTwenty-seven voluntarily childless couples who had made early decisions prior to marriage not to have children were compared to 23 couples childless through a series of successive postponements of childbearing. While the two groups differed little on background characteristics, husbands in early deciding relationships were less feminine-oriented and their wives more masculine-oriented than husbands and wives in the postponing group. Early deciding couples revealed higher levels of commitment to their choice, especially being more likely to seek an abortion for any pregnancy or to adopt out any child. A repertory grid measure revealed few differences in perceptions of others by either group of deliberately childless couples.