Attitudes towards voluntarily childless married couples

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes of a sample of 200 Maltese participants towards voluntarily childless married couples. This quantitative study used a telephone survey to examine a sample of 200 respondents, divided into equal groups of males and females, ages 16-30 and ages 31 and over. Participants provided demographic responses as well as responses regarding ideal family size, their reactions and judgement towards voluntarily childless couples, whether they viewed childbearing as a choice or a duty, and what might have been the reasons, in their opinion, for married couples to choose to remain childless. Results indicated that overall, respondents had negative attitudes towards voluntarily childless married couples. A considerable difference in mentality was noted between young people and adults. Age, status and education were found to influence attitudes towards childlessness, while factors such as gender, locality and socio-economic status were not significant. Religious beliefs were found to have greatly influenced responses due to a vast majority of respondents being Roman Catholics.