I suspect the economy plays a large role. If you can't afford a house or don't have much financial security in general, that makes the idea of adding another large expense less interesting.
Two of the studies cited were on high school seniors and men aged 18-28. I speculate that part of this is that "40 is the new 30" and interest in fatherhood is happening later. Not saying I dont agree with the finding, just that there is definitely an element of delaying family until later vs previous generations
This seems very late. I mean antinatalism isn't an uncommon view point for people to have. This trend has been happening for a long time. I suspect it's cultural and economic. Some people that want to be parents simply can't afford to do what it takes to become parents. But at the same time, having kids doesn't tend to be a high priority for people in a society primarily focused on personal independence. And it shows;<p>>Nearly two-thirds of nonparents (65%) agree that the freedom that comes with not having kids brings them happiness, according to a survey of 1,950 U.S. adults conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Fortune in October.
I think people have different interests as well, I don't have enough fingers to count the amount of people I grew up with that started families when they were in their early twenties. But there are also a group of us who haven't heading into our thirties.<p>Having said that, it doesn't mean that statistically it hasn't changed.<p>For me personally, I don't feel like I have enough stability to bring a child into the world just yet. I'd prefer to do that and settle down once I own a house, whereas other people are happily doing it renting. I find it challenging enough to look after myself let alone another tiny human, but I suppose it depends on where your dial is at in what you're comfortable with doing.
<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-kids-no-problem-millennials-185748139.html" rel="nofollow">https://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-kids-no-problem-millennial...</a><p>> A significant portion (44%) of nonparents ages 18 to 49 say it’s unlikely they’ll have children, according to a 2021 report by the Pew Research Center. That’s up by about 7 percentage points from the 37% who reported the same in 2018.<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/19/growing-share-of-childless-adults-in-u-s-dont-expect-to-ever-have-children/" rel="nofollow">https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/19/growing-sha...</a><p>> And the majority of these adults feel good about their decision: Nearly two-thirds of nonparents (65%) agree that the freedom that comes with not having kids brings them happiness, according to a survey of 1,950 U.S. adults conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Fortune in October. Among millennials without kids, 73% agree with that sentiment, according to the survey.<p>> Across the board, Americans are having fewer kids—and that’s been a trend for over a decade now. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, that was exacerbated with a short-lived “baby bust.” And while birth rates recovered and then some in a 2021 “baby bump,” there was still a net loss of 11,000 “missing conceptions” in 2020 and 2021, according to research from Melissa Kearney, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland.
> Bozick found that, over the past two decades, the number of childless men who do not want children has doubled. Meanwhile, the number of men who said that it was important to have parental leave decreased between 2005 to 2015. The study cites data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that 39.4% of men over the age of 15 have no children, “constituting a sizable share of the population that at present is poorly understood.”<p>Given current technology, the only known way to roll back the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere to the levels required to put an end to anthropogenic climate change is population reduction. The most humane way to do that is to limit the number of children being born.<p>I expect part of the explanation to be economic and the other part due to the realization that having families as was done in the past is paradoxically incompatible with future survival of the species.
I never had children because if I got divorced, I would go from seeing them every day, to only 2 weekends (4 days) per month. I've always known that it would kill me if that happened, and the solitary only way to prevent that is to not have children. I'm not upset at not having children, but I would be unconsolable if I had them but only then got to see them 4 days a month. And, what if the ex-wife took all the other 26 days to turn the kids against me and they didn't want to see me ever? Or if they had to, hated every minute of it. Just no. No. Not going to play that game.<p>So I opted never to get married and not to have kids and wow, you should see my bank account.
It would be interesting to see trends of planned vs unplanned families. How many would be births get stopped with Plan B, etc?<p>In the Philippines, I'm not even sure you can get plan B pills, though there are other options I believe. The Catholic Church has generally frowned on any sort of birth control. Abortions are not legal.<p>Seems like dwindling birth rate would be a cultural shift rather than economic. I'm skeptical of a survey which asks if you're planning to have kids though. I'm single right now and I would say I'm unlikely to have kids. A relationship next month could change that.
I suspect that if you did a more nuanced study, with questions that differentiated between "not wanting kids" and "feeling that you'd be unable to have/raise children in a decent way that doesn't severely compromise your ability to live comfortably" you would have a much more interesting result.<p>My experience as a 21 year old is that many of my peers (both male and female) absolutely want to have kids. In fact, I've found it very common for people in my generational cohort ("Zoomers") to openly want large families with 5 or more children. Sure, there's the occasional hardcore childfree hedonist, but they seem to be a minority amongst people 20ish years old. I'm not entirely certain what caused it, some combination of internet-fueled braggadocio or a general sentiment of revolt against the modern world, but it is real.<p>What I suspect is driving the results of these studies is that the same people I'm talking about are generally smart/informed enough to recognize on some level that the prerequisites for having children in a fundamentally decent manner are extraordinarily difficult to obtain. This is on top of a generally pessimistic outlook on geopolitics and a complete lack of faith in our ruling class to secure a habitable (to say nothing of comfortable) future. It is generally accepted that having kids will implode your financial life, social life, and career. It is widely believed that having children is fundamentally an act of cruelty with the reins of history in the hands of our current tepid gerontocracy.<p>For people with the ability to consider it deeply, having children is a profound act of philosophy, a vote of confidence in the future and a claim to a kind sovereignty so indelible that you can reasonably safeguard something of unlimited value. Whether you believe it to be because of tradition or some inherent dimorphism, this is particularly true for men: the expectation of fatherhood is fundamentally libertarian in some very real sense. So on top of all of the macroeconomic factors, you have to consider the particular factors of 2022 that conspire to strip people of agency and subordinate their sense of self beneath a million behemoth systems in an act of distributed partial sacrifice.<p>... ok, it got a little weird at the end there, but you get the idea.
Personally I don’t want to marry and lose half my worth, so a child is unlikely.<p>The courts are heavily biased towards women, and even the general public looks down upon a man alone with children.<p>I’ve spent time with a girlfriends kids and taken them out, got some nasty looks. Extremely unnerving.
"39.4% of men over the age of 15 have no children" - wait, what kind of a clickbait news is this? (who gets kids in the western world right after the age 15!!!???)
Someone I know, not an American, but gave me food for thought. "I don't want kids. Why should I bring someone to go through this existence? Why?"<p>He is a recovered depression patient, but I think some things never recovered in him.
Being a parent in America is awesome. Being a parent is awesome. Kids are awesome. I have 3 and would love to have 3 more. I can't afford them. They complicate my life. I watch a lot more cartoons these days than I would on my own. But I love them.<p>I say these things in case others are fearing the impact of kids on their lives. The love kids have to give is something special.