Single women, voluntary childlessness and perceptions about life and marriage

Summary

Forty-two single women who want to be childless, eighteen who desire a one child family, and 42 who want two children responded to questions about the quality of their present lives, and nature of future marriages. The groups of women were closely matched for age and education, and on current quality of life there were few differences. They had similar levels of positive and negative affect, and described life as enjoyable, interesting and contented. Those wanting to be childless, however, rated life as less optimistic and less loving, and also as currently somewhat less satisfying, but life satisfaction was still quite high. These early deciders of childlessness, and those wanting only one child, wanted to be financially and socially more independent in future marriage-type relationships than women wanting at least two children. They also expected to follow interests and careers to their fullest, wanted more role innovative partners, and were somewhat less concerned about home ownership, living to a budget, and keeping contact with family and friends. All women placed considerable importance on the need for trust, self-disclosure and open communication in a relationship, although the voluntarily childless rated more highly the need for intellectual stimulation and for each partner to be happy about the success of their mate. Compared to women wanting two children, those wanting to be childless expected a partner to perform a wide range of non-traditional roles in the home.