Associations between Factors in Childhood and Young Adulthood and Childlessness among Women in Their 40s: A National Prospective Cohort Study

Chuyao Jin, The University of Queensland
Leigh Tooth, The University of Queensland
Xiaolin Xu, The University of Queensland
Gita Mishra, The University of Queensland

Purpose: To examine the associations between factors in childhood and young adulthood and childlessness. Methods: The analysis included 4653 women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health from 1996 to 2021. Childlessness was categorised as: voluntary, due to infertility issues, or due to other reasons. The associations between factors in childhood and young adulthood and childlessness were assessed using multinomial logistic regression models. Results: In their 40s, 4.8% of women were voluntarily childless, 6.7% were childless due to infertility issues, and 7.8% were childless due to other reasons. Regardless of types of childlessness, being childless was associated with poorer self-rated health during childhood and having been unpartnered and obese in young adulthood. Ex-smokers in young adulthood had lower odds of childlessness. Childhood physical abuse was associated with childlessness due to infertility issues and other reasons. Voluntary childlessness and childlessness due to infertility issues were associated with having identified as non-exclusively heterosexual in early adulthood. Lower social support in early adulthood was associated with voluntary childlessness and childlessness due to other reasons. Conclusions: Factors in childhood and young adulthood were associated with different types of childlessness, highlighting the importance of adopting a life course perspective when studying childlessness.

Keywords: Longitudinal studies , Fertility

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