Pressure to Have Kids: For Childfree Women, Reasons & Religion Matter

Blisstree

"Still, there are some interesting tidbits in the study, which surveyed 1,200 childless American women.

• Highly religious women perceived fewer average social messages stressing the importance of having children compared with less religious women.

• Hispanic and African-American women were least likely to be voluntarily childfree, but were most likely to have “biomedical fertility barriers” (i.e. infertility).

• The average age of women who were childfree by choice was about four years older than the average age of those with biomedical barriers and about six years older than childless women with “situational barriers” (financial concerns, education or job demands, lack of a partner).

• Family income was highest among voluntarily childfree women and lowest among women with fertility issues."