The experiences of older involuntarily childless men

Hadley, Robin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-7648 (2016) The experiences of older involuntarily childless men. In: Eastern Sociological Society mini-conference on the Sociology of Reproduction, 17 March 2016 - 20 March 2016, Boston, USA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The global trend of a declining fertility rate and an increasingly ageing population has been extensively reported. Childless men are, compared to women, missing from gerontological, psychological, reproduction, and sociological research. These fields have mainly focussed on family and women, with the fertility intentions, history and experience of older men being overlooked. Infertility research has shown that failure to fulfil the status of parenthood may lead to a complex form of bereavement and a significant challenge to identity. A qualitative study was conducted to examine the experiences, attitudes, and behaviours of involuntarily childless men aged over 50. The study used a pluralistic framework drawn from the life course, biographical, and gerontological approaches. A thematic analysis was applied to the semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 men aged between 49 and 82 years. The analysis highlighted the complex intersections between men’s experience of involuntary childlessness and agency, socio-cultural structures, and biological and social clocks. This study challenges research that reports that men are not affected by the social, emotional, and relational aspects of involuntary childlessness. The participants’ narratives demonstrated the diverse elements that affected the men’s experience of 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 in the social networks of both those with and without partners. Awareness of ‘outsiderness’ and a fear of being viewed a paedophile were widely reported.