Menschen, die freiwillig kinderlos sind, werden im Vergleich zu Adoptiveltern, kinderlosen Menschen und Eltern als weniger herzlich wahrgenommen. Im Vergleich zu Eltern und kinderlosen Menschen galten sie jedoch allgemein als kompetenter. Kinderlose Frauen wurden hinsichtlich der Herzlichkeit schlechter bewertet als kinderlose Männer.
Childfree people are viewed as competent but lacking in warmth compared to parents
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Childfree people are viewed as competent but lacking in warmth compared to parents
A set of three studies examining how **individuals who are childfree by choice are perceived found that they are seen as less warm compared to adoptive parents, childless people, and parents. However, they were generally seen as higher in competence compared to parents and childless people. Childfree women were rated lower in warmth than childfree men**. The paper was published in the Journal of Social Psychology.
Childfree people are adults who consciously and voluntarily choose not to have children, viewing this as a long-term or permanent life decision rather than a temporary circumstance. They differ from people who are childless (i.e., those who want children but do not have them due to infertility, partnership status, or other constraints).
Estimates suggest that, in the Western world, approximately 10–20% of individuals are childfree. Childfree people are estimated to make up as many as 30% of people without children. A recent study found that 47% of 18-to-49-year-olds who do not have children report that they would be unlikely to have children because they do not want them.
Results of the first study showed that the ratings of childfree people were not particularly negative. The most favorable ratings were assigned to educated people, dog owners, and adoptive parents. Childfree people fell near the middle of the group; they were rated comparably to Asian Americans and African Americans, and more favorably than groups such as drug addicts and politicians.
The second study saw adoptive parents rated as the most favorable category again, followed by parents, childless people, and educated people. Childfree people’s favorability ratings were lower than in the previous study. Their favorability ratings were significantly higher than ratings of vegans and comparable to ratings of Buddhists.
In these studies, childfree people were perceived as lower in warmth compared to adoptive parents, parents, and childless people. However, childfree people tended to be rated as higher in competence compared to biological parents and childless people. Childfree women were seen as less warm than childfree men.
In the third study, involving U.K. participants, childfree people were rated somewhat more favorably than in the U.S. parent sample, with average ratings similar to those of parents and British people (as a group). However, they were still rated less favorably than adoptive parents and childless people. This study also revealed that individuals who supported discrimination against childfree individuals tended to be those who dehumanized them, perceived them as narcissistic, and endorsed pronatalist norms.
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224545.2025.2573719
Warmth is highly overrated. Not everything needs to be sugar coated and delicately put. Everything we do doesn’t have to be nurturing. Sometimes we can just do whatever we want and simply respect other people. It’s a very freeing way to act and it makes the warm moments much more valuable.
How are neglectful parents with clear signs of neglect by others perceived compared to child free?
There has to be a line that compares parental level to a level of warmth?
I seen parents letting kids go haywire or rampant in public spaces and everyone judged them harshly compared to child free without seeing them as warmth.
I assume this is extremely generalized, but I seen parents being harshly judged and or appreciated, depending on many circumstances.
Was there any sort of medium here?
I wonder how much the perception of women is tied to the perception that women are the ones opting out of having children and the men are „just there.“ (specifically on the men/women disconnect in perception) It is true for some relationships, but not all of them.
The math checks out on this one.
Familiarity breeds contempt and envy.
‚warmth‘ passes for science now?
Metrics like “warmth” are pretty fuzzy and nebulous. What temperature exactly are they speaking at?
I assume this is because like, people EXPECT women to be „motherly“ and have all the associated traits with motherhood. So a woman not wanting kids seems less „warm“.
I could not care less of what others think of me being warm.
I don’t know the methodology here, but I have certainly found „Childfree“ people far more irritating and abrasive than people who „chose not to have children“. The latter are chill people who have their priorities straight. The former have founded a weird identity around their choice and seem to have a massive chip on their shoulder that they can’t wait to tell you about.
Ah yes, that classic scientific metric, emotional „warmth“
I’m the man-half of m/f DINK couple and I have no trouble at all believing any of this. I’m sure I come off as less interested in kids than people who are interested in kids, and I can understand how that might be perceived.
I also don’t care because I’m content with my lifestyle.
„Childfree“ is such a loaded term, it implies that having children is a burden of which you’re free if you don’t have any.
If you’re unemployed you’re also not jobfree, if you don’t have a place to live you’re also not homefree.
I’m very warm when it comes to people I enjoy interacting with. If the person taking notes for this study observed me at a restaurant table after being knocked into by your unsupervised child for the third time, he probably wouldn’t sense too much warmth from me.
My wife and I both toyed with the idea of having children and both came to the conclusion that there really aren’t any GOOD reasons for us to do that, especially given how much we enjoy our relationship as it is. Why ruin a good thing? The approved life path set out for adult humans involving raising children just seemed to have far too many common sense cons and far too few pros for us personally. If our relationship were stale or boring, if our families’ had more influence over our choices, or if all of our friends had children maybe it would be a different story, but it’s not, and we couldn’t be happier. Even if our friends with kids all desperately try to convince us through gritted teeth and tired eyes that they’re loving every minute.
It’s actually because I’m autistic and purposefully unwarm. I live in a big city so I do not suffer fools. However if you are someone who receives my energy and time on the regular, you would have a different report to provide. I am the top performing coolest auntie in my family.
What is the potential value in this kind of research?
What does warm even mean? I’m warm enough alright, my girlfriend even complains she can’t sleep with the blankets on because of my body heat.
TLDR: We all have unwarranted biases so let’s be aware of them.
I said this in response to another comment but I’m so tired of studies on how “warm” or likable or appealing to certain people women are. Do something about endometriosis and leave us alone.
I think a lot of people equate “warmth” with completely self-abandoning caretaking of others, which women are expected to do. So, yes, that is a big reason why I’m not interested in procreating.
Perhaps something to consider is that raising children is something that – ideally – should be done with a nurturing and loving intent. Thus, abstaining from that when already in a stable relationship (and at a reasonable child-baring age) might implicitly signal to others that you have limited amounts of love and nurturing to provide. Not sure what „warmth“ means in this context, and I am not exactly someone who’s set on having kids, but this result seems – at first glance – reasonable.
Conversely, those who abstain from having children likely do so to not harm their careers. Making such a choice, which one could say is against our biological conditioning, is a result of careful consideration of many factors, and an acknowledge of the great responsibility that is to raise a child. Lastly, there already exists a social narrative of the irresponsible parent who had children as an „accident“, or even as a means of salvaging a relationship. With all these things in mind, the intentionally child-free parent would appear competent at making life choices.