Thesis (M.A.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Liberal Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-54).

This thesis explores untheorized themes of pronatalism and childfreedom in Lithuania. Through an analysis of interviews of childfree women, I show the prevalence of a pronatalist norm in Lithuanian society, and how it’s challenged by the phenomenon of childfreedom. I examine women’s paths to childfreedom, the normative pressure they experience, and their views of their position. Pronatalist pressure transforms, when challenged by childfreedom, and especially when it is openly declared. I show that pronatalism is not easily challenged and childfreedom impacts both - the norm and the women, transgressing it. I argue that childfreedom can be seen as an act of resistance to the pronatalist norm, yet this view is restricted by significant limitations.

Studier har visat att frivilligt barnlösa individer stereotypt har betraktats vara olyckliga och otillfredsställda, något som inte har fått vetenskapligt stöd. Syftet med den här tvärsnittsstudien var att undersöka om det föreligger några skillnader i livskvalitet och livstillfredsställelse mellan frivilligt barnlösa personer och föräldrar i den svenska populationen. Forskningsfrågan undersöktes med en enkät som bestod av självskattningsskalorna QOLI (Quality Of Life Inventory) och SWLS (Satisfaction With Life Scale). 130 deltagare genomförde studien varav 54 är frivilligt barnlösa individer och 76 är föräldrar. Studien visade att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna med avseende på livskvalitet och livstillfredsställelse. Dock visade variansanalyserna att ålder och civilstånd signifikant påverkade livskvaliteten och livstillfredsställelsen. / Earlier studies have demonstrated that voluntarily childless individuals are negatively stereotyped as unhappy and unsatisfied, despite contradictory findings. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore whether there are any differences in life quality and life satisfaction between voluntarily childless adults and parents on a Swedish population. The research question was addressed with a survey utilizing two scales; QOLI (Quality Of Life Inventory) and SWLS (Satisfaction With life Scale). 130 subjects participated; 54 voluntarily childless adults and 76 parents. The study concludes that there are no significant differences between the groups on either dimension. However, the variance analysis showed that age and marital status significantly influenced life quality and life satisfaction.

Studier har visat att frivilligt barnlösa individer stereotypt har betraktats vara olyckliga och otillfredsställda, något som inte har fått vetenskapligt stöd. Syftet med den här tvärsnittsstudien var att undersöka om det föreligger några skillnader i livskvalitet och livstillfredsställelse mellan frivilligt barnlösa personer och föräldrar i den svenska populationen. Forskningsfrågan undersöktes med en enkät som bestod av självskattningsskalorna QOLI (Quality Of Life Inventory) och SWLS (Satisfaction With Life Scale). 130 deltagare genomförde studien varav 54 är frivilligt barnlösa individer och 76 är föräldrar. Studien visade att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna med avseende på livskvalitet och livstillfredsställelse. Dock visade variansanalyserna att ålder och civilstånd signifikant påverkade livskvaliteten och livstillfredsställelsen. / Earlier studies have demonstrated that voluntarily childless individuals are negatively stereotyped as unhappy and unsatisfied, despite contradictory findings. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore whether there are any differences in life quality and life satisfaction between voluntarily childless adults and parents on a Swedish population. The research question was addressed with a survey utilizing two scales; QOLI (Quality Of Life Inventory) and SWLS (Satisfaction With life Scale). 130 subjects participated; 54 voluntarily childless adults and 76 parents. The study concludes that there are no significant differences between the groups on either dimension. However, the variance analysis showed that age and marital status significantly influenced life quality and life satisfaction.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’établir une ethnographie des formes de la mémoire de l’interdiction de l’avortement dans le régime totalitaire de Ceausescu. Entre 1966 et 1989, le régime communiste roumain a imposé des politiques pronatalistes, au nom du : binele natiunii socialiste (« le bien de la nation socialiste »). Une construction de la maternité comme « tradition roumaine » a été ainsi développée, en parallèle d’une stricte interdiction de l’IVG, et de la mise à l’écart des moyens contraceptifs modernes. La remémoration sociale de ce passé difficile reste encore un tabou dans la société roumaine d’aujourd’hui. Il semblerait qu’en Roumanie actuelle cette remémoration-faible joue un rôle important dans la santé reproductive, et qu’elle est déterminée par des relations d’intersubjectivité entre les différentes formes de la mémoire du pronatalisme, c'est-à-dire la mémoire officielle, la mémoire culturelle (publique) et la mémoire sociale-partagée. L’analyse développée sur ces formes et leurs relations d’intersubjectivité a pour base un terrain anthropologique (2004-2009) sur la mémoire de l’avortement en Roumanie communiste, et fut réalisée dans le domaine interdisciplinaire des Études mémorielles. / Taking the pronatalism of Ceausescu’s regime as a case study, this thesis is an an ethnography of the memory-formes of a recent delicat past, such as the banning of abortion in a totalitarist regime. From 1966 to 1989, the communist regime imposed extreme policies of controlled demography in Romania, as it was imputed, for ‘the good of the socialist nation’. A construction of maternity as ‘Romanian tradition’ was developed in parallel to the banning of abortion on request and the making of contraception almost inaccessible. The social remembering of such a difficult past is still a taboo in contemporary Romanian society. This law-remembering, which is maybe playing an important role in the current situation of Romania’s reproductive health, is influenced by the intersubjectivities devellopped between the different forms of pronatalist memory, i.e. its official memory, its cultural memory and its social memory. The analysis of those memory-formes and their intersubjectivities is based on an anthropological fieldwork (2004-2009) on the memory of abortion in Communist Romania, and is theoretically informed by the interdisciplinary field of Memory Studies.

Denna studie genomfördes 25 mars till 27 maj 2013 på C-nivå vid Södertörns Högskola.  I studien studeras tre svenska kvinnor och fyra svenska män som väljer att inte ha barn. De övergripande frågeställningarna är: Hur beskriver kvinnor och män sitt val att inte ha barn?Hur bemöts de som väljer att inte ha barn av omgivningen? Hur svarar de som väljer att inte ha barn på bemötandet från omgivningen? Studien är kvalitativ där grundliga personliga intervjuer genomfördes. För analys av intervjumaterial valdes teorier om heteronormativitet, stämpling samt stigmatisering. Studiens resultat visar att kvinnor och män som väljer att inte ha barn, i olika grad beroende på sammanhang, blir ifrågasatta och får möta negativa reaktioner från omgivningen. Det är under en viss tidsperiod i livet som pressen från omgivningen på att ha barn är som starkast. Personer som väljer att inte ha barn blir positionerade som avvikande i samhället samtidigt som deras avvikande position osynliggörs då de inte tas på allvar och anses av omgivningen vara öppna för övertalningsförsök. Nämnvärd skillnad mellan kvinnor och män har inte kunnat urskiljas efter analys av studiens intervjumaterial.

Det finns en skillnad mellan att vara barnlös och barnfri, nämligen att inte kunna få och att välja bort barn. Enligt tidigare forskning beskrivs frivilligt barnfria ofta som avvikande och stigmatiseras av samhället. Att detta även är fallet i Sverige kan ses som förvånande då landets befolkning överlag har starkt individualistiska attityder som står i kontrast till traditionella värderingar, till exempel barnfamiljens starka ställning.   Denna kvantitativa studie avser att mäta implicita attityder till frivilligt barnfria individer och individer med barn med hjälp av ett implicita associationstest. Åttio respondenter med olika ålder, kön, utbildningsnivå, civilstatus och boendesituation genomförde testet. Vi undersöker deras implicita attityder till barnlöshet generellt, samt huruvida dessa attityder varierar mellan olika grupper bland respondenterna. Vi undersöker också om det finns någon korrelation mellan implicita och explicita attityder till barnfrihet.   Studien är sociologisk och resultaten analyseras genom en sociologisk socialpsykologisk ansats. Detta är ett relativt nytt sätt att hantera data från ett implicit associationstest. / There is a difference between childlessness and being childfree, namely to not be able and to voluntarily choose not to have children. According to previous research, childfree individuals are often described as deviant and are stigmatised in society. It may be surprising however to find that this is the case also in Sweden, a country where population generally has strong individualistic attitudes, in contrast to holding traditional values such as the value of the nuclear family.   This quantitative study measures implicit attitudes to voluntarily childfree individuals and individuals with children respectively, using an implicit association test. Eighty respondents with different genders, ages, levels of education, civil status and living conditions, took the test. We investigate their implicit attitudes to being childfree, as well as whether those attitudes vary between different groups of respondents. We also investigate if there are any correlations between implicit and explicit attitudes to being childfree.   The study is sociological and the results are analysed using a sociological social psychological approach. This is a relatively new way to process data from an implicit association test.

This thesis explores the experiences of women - mothers who regret having children. In mainstream society, it is assumed that mothers find their roles fulfilling and it makes them happy despite possible hardships. The topic of maternal regrets is not discussed enough, it is still a taboo. It is assumed that there is something wrong with a woman regretting her motherhood. This topic not only has a lack of general attention, but also of academic one. It is very under-researched. Although there are more and more studies exploring why people choose not to have children, women who regret motherhood are still waiting for support and understanding. In the vast majority, they never admit to their feelings. The outcomes present the fact that motherhood does not have to be a pleasant and simple experience. The women who shared their personal stories in this thesis experienced motherhood as something that oppressed them and complicated their lives. They became pregnant unexpectedly and unplanned and had to adjust all their life plans and expectations to motherhood. They did not find fulfillment in the role of mother. Overall, this work sheds light on the taboo topic of maternal regret and presents the diverse factors that influence mothers' lives and well-being. It highlights the issue of traditional division of gender roles, especially in terms of childcare, working conditions, earnings, and economic dependence on a partner. It addresses the issue of social pressure and expectations that mothers face. It emphasizes the importance of sex education and the importance of making an informed decision. And it demonstrates the complexity of the problem of motherhood regrets.

This thesis is a study in attitudes towards voluntary childlessness. The specific aim is to investigate attitudes towards voluntary childlessness in a society with pronatalist values: how are they structured and how can the structure be interpreted in the Swedish context? As inspiration and theoretical framework the theory of “the value of children”, that was developed by Lois W. Hoffman and Martin L. Hoffman in the 1970’s USA, was used. In order to fulfill the aim a quantitative survey was conducted on the Internet with 2,283 respondents. The data were factor-analyzed and three main factors were interpreted. These factors were named “The natural parenthood”, “Freedom” and “The personal experience”. They were interpreted as three collective dimensions of thinking about parenthood and voluntary childlessness. The study contributes to our knowledge of pronatalist norms as well as the ways in which attitudes towards voluntary childlessness are shaped. The thesis proposes that pronatalist norms can hide under a supposedly individualistic discourse or under internalized beliefs about naturalness. Positive attitudes towards voluntary childlessness seems to contain, above all, beliefs about freedom.

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