Social aspects of childlessness experiences in midlife and late adulthood: a scoping review

Wenqian Xu (), Jianmei Zhou (), Federica Previtali () and Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan ()
Additional contact information
Wenqian Xu: Lund University
Jianmei Zhou: University of Galway
Federica Previtali: University of Helsinki
Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan: National University of Singapore

European Journal of Ageing, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, No 41, 18 pages

Abstract: Abstract Despite its increasing prevalence worldwide, ageing without children remains insufficiently studied. This article presents a scoping review of existing qualitative research examining the social aspects of childlessness in midlife and later adulthood. A total of 3444 papers were retrieved from nine electronic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL Complete, APA PsycINFO, SocINDEX, Academic Search Complete, Humanities International Complete, Scopus, and Embase) and supplemented with a grey literature search using Google Scholar. Twenty-five articles were included. Four interconnected themes were found to relate to the experiences of childless adults in midlife and later adulthood: (1) living within structural contexts highlights how social norms, life course disadvantages, and policy frameworks affect well-being, access to services, and parenthood possibilities; (2) navigating care and support captures the varied ways childless adults access support through informal and formal care systems; (3) making sense of childlessness focuses on how individuals interpret their childless status; and (4) carving out control describes how individuals adapt to non-parenthood. These findings demonstrate the diversity, complexity, and evolving nature of childlessness experiences among middle-aged and older adults. However, this review also revealed several gaps in the existing literature, highlighting areas for future examination, such as experiences of childlessness among LGBTQ + individuals, how policy frameworks shape lived experiences, and how targeted support interventions may address the needs of childless populations.

Keywords: Childlessness; Heterogeneity; Meaning-making; Support systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-025-00877-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:22:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-025-00877-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... iences/journal/10433

DOI: 10.1007/s10433-025-00877-7

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Ageing is currently edited by Marja Aartsen, Susanne Iwarsson and Prof. Dr. Matthias Kliegel

More articles in European Journal of Ageing from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().