Why people choose to opt out of parenthood

Moreover, another study by Blackstone & Stewart (2012) reflects a long-term trend which shows that the number of women eschewing away from parenthood has doubled since 1970 to the present. This pattern is fascinating, and from a societal perspective, especially from the religious sect, the trend is threatening the existence of the future society and others have termed the act of opting out of parenthood as an act of “selfishness. ” Traditionally, the community expects people to bear their own children once they get into marriage, but, following the recent trends, some married couples have preferred to stay childfree. For a detailed understanding of the motivating factors for people to opt out of parenthood, this literature review explores the myriad reasons that motivate people to choose to stay out of parenthood.

Review of Literature Mainly, career ambitions and educational priority make people opt out of parenthood. Mainly, at the time of the study, the high rate of unemployment was reported in the Southern European regions in which the young adults would not secure employment opportunities for living. As a result, people of the areas opted for earlier acquisition of the required skills such that they can compete in the labor market sufficiently and this forces young men and women to stay away from marriage to acquire education. In another related study in 14 countries, Peterson (2015) concluded that people who are undergoing economic instabilities would not think of parenthood because they cannot provide for their children. In this case, economic fluctuations may be caused by unemployment, temporary contracts, or job instabilities among other factors.

After all, if a person cannot provide for him/ herself, why should he or she think of adding another human into the world to suffer the same difficulties the person may be undergoing? Conversely, by comparing the same economic conditions to countries with strong net such as Norway and Sweden and taking people with similar economic conditions from these two countries, Thomson, Lappegård, Carlson, Evans & Gray (2014) established that more people had children who are contrary to the 14 states from Southern Europe. By defending the decision of married couples to remain childless, Rich, Taket, Graham & Shelley (2011) support the idea that male dominance in most families overwhelms women with the household chores which makes the modern woman to opt out of the idea of giving birth.

Additionally, the challenges of overpopulation have caused fear amongst the millennials, and this has caused many people to opt out of parenthood. In a study by Thomson, Lappegård, Carlson, Evans & Gray (2014) to find out the millennials’ perception about parenthood in the United States, the researcher established that there is a lot of fear among the millennials that overcrowding which is caused by overpopulation is likely to cause more conflicts in the future than the current crisis due to scramble for economic resources. Moreover, Hamamy et al. (2016) conducted a study to establish the problems that people from the impoverished economic regions face in India. The increased trends of cohabitation among the unmarried couples is a form of delaying marriages and an alternative means to staying committed to one’s partner.

In this case, people some couples prefer making marriage trials and see whether it will eventually lead to marriage. In Willoughby and his fellows’ study, interviewed 3780 women and established that 30 percent of the cohabited couples led into friendship and maybe, this is the reason why most youths opt for an informal marriage without children. For instance in Europe, Thomson, Lappegård, Carlson, Evans & Gray (2014) indicate that the marriage, cohabitation, and first births are interrelated, but in coexistence, there is a small likelihood of the couples to give birth to a child compared to married couples with similar economic status and age. In support to this idea that people are opting out of parenthood, Fabian, Rådestad & Waldenström (2013) say that the rate of divorce among the married couples has contributed significantly to stay childfree and it consequently forces many people to remain in marriage without any permanent attachment (children) with one another.

In this case, for them, they can get married, but they are unwilling to give birth or even willing to get engaged in motherly duties. Even more, despite the advanced technological advancements, in the 21st century, pregnancy is still a risky ordeal in several countries especially the developing economies (Fabian, Rådestad & Waldenström, 2013). With these regards, women are unwilling to use their uteruses as incubators because of the health risks associated with pregnancies. According to a WHO report released in 2016, the statistics show that about ten women in every 100 women in developing countries lose their lives or get complications which arise as a result of pregnancies. Thus, other women opt to remain childless to avoid such complications. Moreover, the increased rates in divorce among married couples is a warning for the newly or a potential couple from giving birth or stay in a marriage without any permanent attachment to one another, and this implies that they can dissolve the marriage readily without being stressed with the burden of providing for the children’s needs.

However, as some religious sects have warned, if this trend continues into the future, it may threaten the existence of the labor personnel in several countries, and therefore, they should develop some incentives to enhance procreation to certain levels. However, some of the studies identified in this study draw their samples from one country as in the case of Norway and generalizes them to the rest of the states. In this case, there is a need to conduct worldwide research and compare them with the existing literature especially from the developing economies to establish a substantial body of research on this topic. References Aassve, A. , & Kimmel, J. The motherhood wage gap for women in the United States: the importance of college and fertility delay.