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Since one of the latest discussions in this sub-forum about the importance and meaning of having children,
I couldn't look past this article I came across yesterday.
Actually, the article is about the issue of childlessness in the country of Norway, and it would be nice to have some input from some of our more popular members on here from the same country.
Despite the fact the the article is about only one country, I feel that it depicts the situastion in a lot of countries in the western world facing similar issues.
Although the article itself isn't the greatest I have read, I just thought it was timely and mush more important that a lot of people seem to understand.
Reading these hard facts, it's hard to turn the other cheek just because it's a cruel fact. It's a fact after all. Western civilization is facing it's demons and corrupted feminism (note: not ALL feminism) may be what undermines it's leading role in human evolution. Another thing mentioned is the problem of egocentrism, which I personally believe is a much bigger issue, although it seems that it affects genders in a different manner.
More childless men: Women do not want children with low-status men
One of the reasons for increased childlessness is that women do not want children with men who have lower status than themselves.
One in six women and one in four men have not yet had children when they are 45 years old. This is an increase of 67 percent for women and 79 percent for men since 1985.
In one generation, the proportion of childless people has increased from 9 to 15 percent among 45-year-old women and from 14 to 25 percent among men of the same age. This is far more than the 5-10 percent who say they do not want to have children by their own decision.
"We know way too little about why that is the case and why it has developed like this. We want to understand the mechanism behind these changes, and we want to understand the health consequences of childlessness and the more complex forms of cohabitation and partnership between the sexes that we see today'', says Per Magnus, Senior Director of the Institute of Public Health and Fertility, Norway.
The explanation and theory of status
Researcher Thorgeir Kolshus from the Social Anthropology Department at the University of Oslo, says that one of the causes of increased childlessness is that women do not want to have children with men of lower status than themselves.
''There is only one reason that stands out. It is a question of attitude and culture as well as lag of a gender role model that we thought we had put behind us", Kolshus said to NRK. Further on he explains that the higher proportion of women with higher education adds on and reinforces to this phenomenon even more.
Kolshus also says that there are far more women than men who are voluntarily childless:
"It's interesting to see that the same proportion of men and women actually want to have children, but the difference in gap between the volunteer and non-volunteer proportion between the sexes is huge. There are almost three times more men than women who are non-voluteerely childless, and that will increase", he told NRK.
Other factors
Prof. Magnus from the same university says there can be many factors.
''Perhaps the increase in environmental pollutants has impaired biologically fertility. Maybe it's the cultural changes, since it's no longer expected that you go straight from graduation to work and establish a family. The development of equality between genders and contraception have also given women greater opportunity to decide if and when they will become pregnant'', says Magnus.
"There is also a self-realization trend in the last generation, where we Norwegians have many opportunities to do other things before we choose to have children. The fact that we have grown richer has given us plenty of opportunities to explore these selfish fantasies'', Magnus says. .
Impact on health
Magnus believes it is particularly worrisome that such a large proportion of men do not have children.
"To illustrate this: men who do not have children, or a permanent partner, have a completely different health risk than those who have family, children and, perhaps, grandchildren. This risk is statistically significant", he points out.
Many other societal pointers and contexts suggest that societies and individuals benefit from the fact that a large proportion are parents. Statistics from Central Statistics Agency (SSB) of Norway show that six out of ten welfare recipients are single men and women without children.
Comprehensive research
To find answers, researchers have gathered data from health records, large population surveys - like the Norwegian mother and child survey (MoBa) - and quality assured biobanks.
"Researchers with medical and social science backgrounds are included, which means that we are able to have more perspective in the research. We want to determine both the causes and consequences of increased childlessness for individuals and society as a whole", says Magnus.
The project has a time horizon of up to ten years, but findings will be published on a continuous basis, often coupled and interpreted within a contruct of meta-studies or as standalone results.
I couldn't look past this article I came across yesterday.
Actually, the article is about the issue of childlessness in the country of Norway, and it would be nice to have some input from some of our more popular members on here from the same country.
Despite the fact the the article is about only one country, I feel that it depicts the situastion in a lot of countries in the western world facing similar issues.
Although the article itself isn't the greatest I have read, I just thought it was timely and mush more important that a lot of people seem to understand.
Reading these hard facts, it's hard to turn the other cheek just because it's a cruel fact. It's a fact after all. Western civilization is facing it's demons and corrupted feminism (note: not ALL feminism) may be what undermines it's leading role in human evolution. Another thing mentioned is the problem of egocentrism, which I personally believe is a much bigger issue, although it seems that it affects genders in a different manner.
More childless men: Women do not want children with low-status men
One of the reasons for increased childlessness is that women do not want children with men who have lower status than themselves.
One in six women and one in four men have not yet had children when they are 45 years old. This is an increase of 67 percent for women and 79 percent for men since 1985.
In one generation, the proportion of childless people has increased from 9 to 15 percent among 45-year-old women and from 14 to 25 percent among men of the same age. This is far more than the 5-10 percent who say they do not want to have children by their own decision.
"We know way too little about why that is the case and why it has developed like this. We want to understand the mechanism behind these changes, and we want to understand the health consequences of childlessness and the more complex forms of cohabitation and partnership between the sexes that we see today'', says Per Magnus, Senior Director of the Institute of Public Health and Fertility, Norway.
The explanation and theory of status
Researcher Thorgeir Kolshus from the Social Anthropology Department at the University of Oslo, says that one of the causes of increased childlessness is that women do not want to have children with men of lower status than themselves.
''There is only one reason that stands out. It is a question of attitude and culture as well as lag of a gender role model that we thought we had put behind us", Kolshus said to NRK. Further on he explains that the higher proportion of women with higher education adds on and reinforces to this phenomenon even more.
Kolshus also says that there are far more women than men who are voluntarily childless:
"It's interesting to see that the same proportion of men and women actually want to have children, but the difference in gap between the volunteer and non-volunteer proportion between the sexes is huge. There are almost three times more men than women who are non-voluteerely childless, and that will increase", he told NRK.
Other factors
Prof. Magnus from the same university says there can be many factors.
''Perhaps the increase in environmental pollutants has impaired biologically fertility. Maybe it's the cultural changes, since it's no longer expected that you go straight from graduation to work and establish a family. The development of equality between genders and contraception have also given women greater opportunity to decide if and when they will become pregnant'', says Magnus.
"There is also a self-realization trend in the last generation, where we Norwegians have many opportunities to do other things before we choose to have children. The fact that we have grown richer has given us plenty of opportunities to explore these selfish fantasies'', Magnus says. .
Impact on health
Magnus believes it is particularly worrisome that such a large proportion of men do not have children.
"To illustrate this: men who do not have children, or a permanent partner, have a completely different health risk than those who have family, children and, perhaps, grandchildren. This risk is statistically significant", he points out.
Many other societal pointers and contexts suggest that societies and individuals benefit from the fact that a large proportion are parents. Statistics from Central Statistics Agency (SSB) of Norway show that six out of ten welfare recipients are single men and women without children.
Comprehensive research
To find answers, researchers have gathered data from health records, large population surveys - like the Norwegian mother and child survey (MoBa) - and quality assured biobanks.
"Researchers with medical and social science backgrounds are included, which means that we are able to have more perspective in the research. We want to determine both the causes and consequences of increased childlessness for individuals and society as a whole", says Magnus.
The project has a time horizon of up to ten years, but findings will be published on a continuous basis, often coupled and interpreted within a contruct of meta-studies or as standalone results.
