The Childless of the Baby Boomer Generation - Handling Childlessness in Old Age

Author(s):

Jeannine Hess(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Poster

Session Information

19 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2015-09-09

12:30-14:00

Room:

Poster Area

Chair:

Contribution

The research question of the dissertation project is: How do men and women born between 1943 and 1950, both volitional childless adults and adults that were unable to conceive children, handle their childlessness in old age? The objective of my thesis is to better understand the social phenomenon of childlessness and individuals biographical processes. The focus lays on childless women and men in the post-professional phase of life, whose childlessness is final, but may attain explosiveness and asks for processing needs because peers with children become grandparents. Key aspects of interest are reasons and processes for childlessness, coping strategies, transitions in biographies and life situations of childless human beings. From the temporal point of view, the research concerns the retrospective, current and prospective perspectives.

This doctoral thesis project is based on the following theories:

- Coping theory and concept of biography (Böhnisch 2012)

- Transitions in curriculum vitae and biography (Schröer, Stauber, Walther, Böhnisch and Lenz 2013)

- Children as tension between autonomy and motherhood (Beck-Gernsheim 1997 and Badinter 1984)

- The Value of Children (Nauck 2001)

- Gender role stereotypes and the influence of socialization (Greenglass 1986)

Method

In this exploratory study, autobiographical narrative interviews according to Fritz Schütze (1983) will be the main method. Hereby, the interviewee tells his life story and his life experiences unaffected and off the cuff. The evaluation process also takes place according to Schütze (1983), which is based on six steps and is especially suitable for the biography research. There are six to ten autobiographical narrative interviews with childless women and men from Switzerland foreseen. The sample selection is based on a theoretical sampling in which the different variations are considered, if possible: gender, urban or rural region, educational background, age, reason for childlessness.

Expected Outcomes

The research shall supply answers as to how childless women and man do handle their childlessness and the circumstance that they never come into the role of grandparents, if the childlessness has a change effect on the identity of the person concerned and how they handle that with possible societal pressure and clichés. Not only women but also men will be included in the project. It must be emphasized that this is a matter of academic void because there are no similar studies available yet. Furthermore, the topic is demographically and socio-politically relevant due to the fact that in many European countries the birth rate is sinking.

References

Badinter, Elisabeth (1984). Die Mutterliebe. Geschichte eines Gefühls vom 17. Jahrhundert bis heute. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth (1997). Die Kindefrage. Frauen zwischen Kinderwunsch und Unabhängigkeit. München: Beck‘sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Böhnisch, Lothar (2012). Sozialpädagogik der Lebensalter. Eine Einführung (6., überarbeitete Auflage). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa. Greenglass, Esther R. (1986). Geschlechterrolle als Schicksal: soziale und psychologische Aspekte weiblichen und männlichen Rollenverhaltens. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Nauck, Bernhard (2001). Der Wert von Kindern für ihre Eltern. „Value of Children“ als spezielle Handlungstheorie des generativen Verhaltens und von Generationenbeziehungen im interkulturellen Vergleich. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 53(3), S. 407-435. Schröer, Wolfgang; Stauber, Barbara; Walther, Andreas; Böhnisch, Lothar; Lenz, Karl (Hrsg.) (2013). Handbuch Übergänge. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Juventa. Schütze, Fritz (1983). Biographieforschung und narratives Interview. Neue Praxis. Kritische Zeitschrift für Sozialarbeit und Sozialpädagogik, 13(3), S. 283-293.

Author Information

Jeannine Hess (presenting / submitting)

Zurich University of Applied Science

Social Work

Zurich

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