Many people believe that having children comes with the territory if you’re married. It seems like a rule set in stone, and that is beyond questioning. But is that really the truth? Can’t you live with your life partner for many years without having offspring?
But even more importantly, will you be suffocated by regrets later in life if you’ve been married for many years and never had the courage to have kids? That’s the million-dollar question. If you’ve been married since your ’20s or ’30s, it might be ok not to have any feelings of guilt, but what if they will emerge later in life and even be unbearable? According to a new study, there’s nothing to worry about.
Childless couples have no more regrets later in life than married people who are parents
The new study determining that married couples who don’t have children won’t have regrets later in life compared to parents has examined data belonging to 1,000 people. It has also been concluded that over 20 percent of adults who live in the American state of Michigan don’t have any plans that include offspring.
Zachary Neal, who is an associate professor of psychology at MSU and also a co-author of the new study, stated, as Futurism quotes:
Many adults are child-free, and there do not seem to be differences by age, education or income,
However, being child-free is somewhat more common among adults who identify as male, white or who have always been single.
Jennifer Watling Neal, a co-author and also an MSU psychology professor, said, as the same source quotes:
We found no evidence that older child-free adults experience any more life regret than older parents.
Ultimately, perhaps it’s best to suit yourself when it comes to having children or not.
The new study was published in PLOS ONE.
