A little bit shocking! Or is it alarmism and sensationalism?
However, the social phenomenon of childfree adults (for non-medical reasons) could be serious. It has been reported about for decades in Western societies.
One survey does not make a trend! The underlying Michigan survey was conducted in April of 2022. What was the impact of the Covid-19?
"Last summer, researchers at Michigan State University reported that one in five Michigan adults, or about 1.7 million people, don't want children and therefore are child-free. Although that number was surprisingly large to many, data has now been confirmed in a follow-up study. ..."
"... Estimates of the prevalence of childfree adults in the United States population vary dramatically. Prior studies have estimated this prevalence at 1.3%–1.8% of ever-married women [23], 5%–9% of women aged 35–44 [24], 10%–20% of non-parent men aged 15–49 [25], 21.6% of all adults [2], and 44% of non-parent adults aged 18–49 [26]. Variations in study design make it difficult to compare these estimates or determine whether they are accurate ...
Data used in our replication and exploratory analyses were collected between April 12 and April 22, 2022 as part of the State of the State Survey (SOSS), a recurring public opinion survey of Michigan adults conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. ...
The SOSS dataset includes 1,000 Michigan adults who were matched on gender, age, race, and education to sampling frame based on the 2019 American Community Survey. ..."
From the abstract:
"Childfree individuals, who are also described as ‘childless by choice’ or ‘voluntarily childless’, have decided they do not want biological or adopted children. This is an important population to understand because its members have unique reproductive health and end-of-life needs, and they encounter challenges managing work-life balance and with stereotypes. Prior estimates of childfree adults’ prevalence in the United States, their age of decision, and interpersonal warmth judgements have varied widely over time and by study design. To clarify these characteristics of the contemporary childfree population, we conduct a pre-registered direct replication of a recent population-representative study. All estimates concerning childfree adults replicate, boosting confidence in earlier conclusions that childfree people are numerous and decide early in life, and that parents exhibit strong in-group favoritism while childfree adults do not."
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