The Mental Health of the Childless Elderly: Social Networks Support Their Quality of Life
By Ross Peters
November 2003

Little is known about the problems of distress or depression associated with childlessness in the elderly population, how well the childless elderly live, the status of their mental health or what factors affect them psychologically. Canada's 1991 census indicated about 13% of women aged 60-64 have never had children. In the United States, about 20% of women aged 65 and over are childless. This large number of childless elderly people in both countries raises important concerns about the nature of their family support and their psychological well-being.

Childless individuals now negotiate their way through a society that praises the benefits of having children. Parenthood is thought to provide advantages in later life as adult children become the primary source of social support for their aged parents. It has been suggested that some parents have children partly to have secure companionship and assistance in old age.

Although the childless elderly have fewer social ties and a higher risk of social isolation than elderly parents, research indicates that they are not less satisfied with life. However, those who are childless by circumstance (i.e. infertility) have lower subjective well-being than do parents. While children are important in elderly parents' social support networks, the elderly without children do have qualitative support in later life and one study showed that the childless elderly had less life stress than did elderly parents. It has also been shown that insufficient support from children may increase the risk of depression among elderly parents. Thus, having children does not guarantee happiness in later life, nor are the childless elderly doomed to social isolation and loneliness.

Many childless elderly people have, over their lifetime, secured a stable support network. They also rely more on their siblings or friends for companionship than do elderly parents. The latter normally rely more on their own children for support. The childless elderly thus do not appear to lack social support in later life, although their support networks are usually smaller than those of parents.

The authors of this study believe that there is a direct relationship between perceived social support, social involvement and social contact and the childless elderly's mental health. Results of the authors' tests of psychological distress among the childless elderly show that elderly childless women have more distress then elderly childless men. Marital status is also shown to be important --- married/cohabiting individuals, those that were never married and the widowed all showed less stress than the separated/divorced group.

Not surprisingly, the study showed evidence of a direct relationship between social support resources and improved mental health in the childless elderly and social support probably plays a greater role in predicting mental health than does parental status. In conclusion, the study showed that the perceived availability of social support appears to buffer the childless elderly from many of the stresses of aging and is important in maintaining good mental health.

Reference: Zheng Wu, Randy Hart. The Mental Health of the Childless Elderly. Sociological Inquiry, Vol 72(1), pp 21-42, (2002).