Childless elderly: Theoretical perspectives and practical concerns

Almost nothing is concretely known about childless elderly in cross-cultural perspective. Few published papers have appeared on this social category in the West, although childless elders make up (at least) 20% of the population of elderly in many Western nations. Little is known about childless elderly in the Third World. This paper provides some theoretical background to the study of childless elderly and articulates some social policy concerns about them. It suggests that there are five important questions to examine concerning the lives of childless elderly. These include, how childless aged are or are not provided for in societies in which a great deal of the care of the aged is undertaken by children; how kinship functions as a matrix for care; how the increasingly common phenomenon of voluntary childless may give meaning to childlessness in late life; how childlessness fits with such social science models such as the developmental cycle; and, the relationship of this phenomenon to changing opportunities for women. The paper further examines how factors such as fertility, systems of caregiving, the social meaning of childlessness, alternatives to childlessness such as adoption, and educational and economic opportunities may affect the lives of childless elders.