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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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"I'm missing out and I think I have something to give"
— experiences of older involuntarily childless men | | Author(s) | Robin Andrew Hadley |
| Journal title | Working with Older People, vol 22, no 2, 2018 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2018 |
| Pages | pp 83-92 |
| Source | http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/wwop |
| Keywords | Older men ; Childless ; Quality of life ; Qualitative Studies ; United Kingdom. |
| Annotation | The experiences of childless men are mostly absent from gerontological, psychological, reproduction, and sociological, research. These disciplines have mainly focussed on family formation and practices, whilst the fertility intentions, history, and experience of men have been overlooked. Not fulfilling the dominant social status of parenthood provides a significant challenge to both individual and cultural identity. Distress levels in both infertile men and women have been recorded as high as those with grave medical conditions. This paper reports on the implications of the global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population. It aims to provide some insight into the effect involuntarily childless has on the lives of older men. This auto/biographical qualitative study used a pluralistic framework drawn from the biographical, feminist, gerontological and life course approaches. Data were gathered from in-depth semi-structured biographical interviews with 14 self-defined involuntarily childless men aged 49-82 from across the UK. A broad thematic analysis highlighted the complex intersections between involuntary childlessness and agency, biology, relationships and socio-cultural structures. Diverse elements affected the men's involuntary childlessness: upbringing, economics, timing of events, interpersonal skills, sexual orientation, partner selection, relationship formation and dissolution, bereavement, and the assumption of fertility. The importance of relationship quality was highlighted for all the men, with and without partners. Quality of life was affected by health, relationships, and social networks. Awareness of "outsiderness" and a fear of being viewed as a paedophile were widely reported. As this study is based on a small self-selecting "fortuitous" sample, care should be taken in applying the findings to the wider population. Health and social care policy, practice and research have tended to focus on family and women. The ageing childless are absent and excluded from policy, practice and research. Since it is predicted that there will be over two million childless people aged 65 and over by 2030 (approximately 25 per cent of the 65 and over population), recognition of those ageing without children or family is urgent. The consequences for health and social care of individuals and organisations are catastrophic if this does not happen. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180511202 A |
| Classmark | BC: SU: F:59: 3DP: 8 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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