Heterogeneity of Childlessness in South Korea

Childless families constitute an emerging family form in contemporary Korea. According to 2010 Census, approximately 15% of households consisted of childless couples, indicating that the meaning of parenthood and the norm of childbirth have changed in the post-Confucian agrarian era. The burden of child care and education has exacerbated couples’ motivations to become parents, particularly among dual-income families. However, childless Koreans may not be a homogenous group. Some couples remain involuntarily childless due to infertility, and others simply delay having children. In this study, we categorized childless married Koreans into three groups, voluntary, involuntary, and delayed, and examined the factors associated with each group.

Data came from 553 childless married Koreans who had been married at least for three years using quota sampling in metropolitan Seoul. We conducted multinomial logistic regression to identify the individual, attitudinal, and marital factors associated with participants' membership in each of the three childless groups using involuntary childlessness as a reference group. Both the voluntary and delayed groups were more likely to perceive advantages of childlessness, to put less importance on religion, and to have less intention to adopt a child. However, other factors were differently related to the voluntary and the delayed groups. Specifically, attitudinal characteristics were significant among the voluntary group while marital characteristics were significant among the delayed group. The voluntary group was more likely to have negative attitudes toward parenthood and to report a lower ideal number of children compared to the involuntary group. The delayed group was more likely to be dual-incomers and to report a shorter length of marriage compared to the involuntary group. Our findings suggest that childless couples may not be a homogenous group in Korea. It is worth noting that there are differences in attitudes towards parenthood and marital characteristics depending upon the childless group.