Some people may consider becoming a parent as one of life's greatest joys. However, parenthood is not for everyone. Psychologists from Michigan State University surveyed almost 1,000 adults in the state and found that more of them now chose not to have kids.
Over 25% of the survey respondents said that they had chosen not to have children. This percentage is greater than what they have expected.
The results also showed that there is no difference in life satisfaction and only limited differences in personality traits among parents and child-free individuals.
Child-Free Adults: Is It Okay to Not Have a Child?
As more people have decided not to have children, associate professors Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary Neal from MSU's department of psychology were among the first to dig deeper into how these child-free adults differ from others, Science Daily reported.
Jennifer Watling Neal said that previous studies had identified child-free individuals from non-parents, including those not-yet parents planning to have kids and childless people who are unable to have children due to infertility or circumstance.
In their study, they used a set of three questions to determine respondents who have children, wanted to have children, and those who do not want to have children.
The psychologists used the five-item "Satisfaction with Life Scale" and the 20-item Mini-International Personality Item Pool (mini-IPIP) to measure the levels of life satisfaction for each respondent using and the Big Five personality traits.
The study, entitled "Prevalence and characteristics of childfree adults in Michigan (USA)" published in PLOS, showed that there are no differences in the levels of life satisfaction and only limited personality differences between parents, not-yet parents, childless, and child-free individuals regardless of their demographic characteristics.
Moreover, Zachary Neal noted that child-free individuals are more liberal than parents. However, those people who are not child-free tends to be less warm toward child-free adults.
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More Adults Chose Not to Have A Child
Beyond the life satisfaction and personality differences between parents and non-parents, researchers have also unveiled unexpected findings, MailOnline reported.
They found that more than one out of four of the respondents or 27% of adults in Michigan are identified as child-free, or those who choose toot have a child.
Professor Watling Neal said that they are most surprised by these findings because it is more than what they have expected. Previous studies have only identified around 2% to 9% child-free individuals. They think that their improved measurement has been able to identify child-free individuals.
Although there is a limitation to the measurement because it is only from a relatively small number of people in Michigan, they recommend for future studies to examine the prevalence and characteristics of child-free individuals at a national level by getting the appropriate number of participants.
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