The unseen men on Father’s Day: the impact of childlessness on men's health and well-being

Hadley, Robin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-7648 (2024) The unseen men on Father’s Day: the impact of childlessness on men's health and well-being. Ageing Issues Blog.

Preview

Accepted Version Available under License In Copyright. Download (94kB) | Preview

Abstract

Father’s Day is a celebration that honours fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. Taking a different view to the ‘new father’ ideal, Georgie Codd ’s book, ‘Never Had a Dad’ is a poignant exploration of the complex dynamics surrounding fatherhood, family and human relationships. The discussions surrounding fatherhood highlight an often-overlooked aspect of men’s lives: the impact of unwanted childlessness. In the UK (and most parts of the world) the data on father’s fertility history is not typically recorded at the registration of a birth (the mother’s is). As a result, childless men do not exist as a recognized ‘category’ making it extremely challenging to find data on how male childlessness affects men economically, socially, their mental and physical health, mortality, and well-being. However, my research shows that childlessness effects men. Research shows there are more childless men than childless women: in Europe approximately 25 percent of men compared to 20 percent of women are childless (Tanturri et al., 2015). A British cohort study found that 25.4 percent of men and 19 percent of women were childless (Berrington, 2017).