Building on recent European studies, we use the Survey of Income and Program Participation to provide the first broad, descriptive portrait of fertility differences within the U.S. college-going population by undergraduate field of study. We rely on multilevel event history models to investigate potential mechanisms linking field of study to delayed fertility and childlessness. We find a 10 per...

Although having children is seen as one of the most important functions adult romantic relationships (e.g., marriage) and it a common norm followed by married couples, birth rates both around world in Turkey have steadily declined over past years. Some childless individuals decided to remain childfree their own volition not due external factors that lie outside control, such infertility. This v...

Little is known about the role that online support communities play in the lives of women faced with permanent involuntary childlessness. To understand the experiences of these women, this study conducted a thematic analysis of messages downloaded from an online community for permanent involuntary childlessness. Four central themes were identified: Feeling like an “outsider”, A whole lifetime o...

The article deals with the problematics of childfree in sociological discourse. It is noted that concept "childfree" appears context rethinking prevailing public discourse about childlessness. If “childless” refers to people who are childless for reasons beyond their control, then “childfree” because they themselves made such a choice. Attention focused on insufficient development this issue mo...

BACKGROUND This study explores the long-term experience of involuntary childlessness among 14 Swedish women 20 years after their infertility treatment. METHODS In-depth interviews were conducted. RESULTS The childlessness had had a strong impact on all the women's lives and was for all a major life theme. The effects were experienced both on a personal level and on interpersonal and social ...

Many studies have documented a negative association between macroeconomic indicators and fertility in times of economic crisis. These studies are based on research designs that do not allow for excluding that the observed association is driven by confounders. The aim of the present paper is to estimate the causal effect of the Great Recession on cohorts’ childlessness in the United States. We a...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects many women of childbearing age. The course of IBD is closely related to pregnancy outcomes with poorly controlled IBD increasing the risk of prematurity, low weight for gestation, and fetal loss. As such, women with IBD face complex decision making weighing the risks of active disease versus those of medical treatments. This review summarizes the current...

While infertility is a global challenge for millions of couples, low income countries have particularly high rates, of up to 30%. Infertility in these contexts is not limited to its clinical definition but is a socially constructed notion with varying definitions. In highly pronatalistic and patriarchal societies like Pakistan, women bear the brunt of the social, emotional and physical conseque...

Abstract Using data from various sources, this paper discusses the recently documented below replacement level fertility in India context of universality marriage girls, most which are arranged by parents, and increase their mean age at marriage, mainly due to decrease child marriage. There is virtually no divorce rate, cohabitation, or voluntary childlessness, except for some anecdotal evidenc...