Childfreeness as a Way of Navigating Emerging Adulthood
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Emerging adulthood is a life stage characterized by openness, exploration, and the negotiation of adult roles. In contemporary societies, the postponement of parenthood and declining fertility rates have made questions about having children increasingly salient for this generation. For many women, emerging adulthood is therefore the period in which assumptions about motherhood are first encountered. Childfreeness therefore offers a unique perspective on how adulthood is shaped during emerging adulthood. This qualitative study explores how childfree women in emerging adulthood experience and make sense of their childfree lives. Twelve women aged 22–29 (M = 26.3) participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Childfreeness was experienced less as a set of reasons against having children and more as a sense of relief linked to the realization that parenthood is not an obligation. This realization disrupted assumed life timelines and opened space for alternative trajectories, becoming particularly meaningful in a life stage still marked by uncertainty and limited long-term commitments. Childfreeness was closely tied to autonomy with participants emphasizing flexibility as necessary for managing adulthood. A further central theme concerned reproductive control, understood as a way of protecting the openness of emerging adulthood from unwanted parenthood. Participants also described navigating persistent pronatalist expectations, particularly within family contexts, and gradually developing boundaries as their sense of adult legitimacy strengthened. Taken together, the findings show that childfreeness functions as a developmentally salient way of navigating emerging adulthood under contemporary social conditions. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of diverse pathways through emerging adulthood beyond dominant reproductive norms. |
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