Work and social media indicators of low desire for children

Especially people under 30 postpone starting a family. The most common reasons for not having children yet are an uncertain lifestyle and the unwillingness to give up the current lifestyle, a study from the University of Helsinki shows.

The research, conducted among men and women between the ages of 20-44, shows several main reasons people have for not having children. That is reported in the press release of the university.

Lifestyle

The first reason is an uncertain lifestyle, Kateryna Golovina explains. She works for the research college of the academic institute. Several factors contribute to uncertainty, she says. For example, financial hardships or unfinished studies can make people feel uncertain, in addition to the size of their house or the combination of work and childcare.

Another reason people mention is that they want to maintain their current lifestyle. “Some adults want to do other things in life than start a family”, Golovina says. Others argue that their family is already big enough.

People who are more work-oriented and use social media often were more likely to mention lifestyle preferences as a reason for not having children, Yle reports. That applied to women especially.

Parttime mothers

Most women who have children do not return to work full-time. That is shown by Dutch research, as reported by Dutch News. Even when their children get older, they stay at home parttime.

Researcher Wil Portegijs points out that most policies target at getting young mothers back to work by providing childcare, parental leave and tax breaks. These accommodations are not attractive for older women.

Research organisation SCP looked at the situation of Dutch mothers whose youngest child was aged between 8 and 24. In total, 525 women participated in the survey. Half of them worked more often as their children became older and needed less care. However, only a third went back to the same amount of working hours as before they had their children.