Normative and microeconomic models of voluntary childlessness

Most previous research on voluntary childlessness has used nonrepresentative samples to explore psychological correlates of the decision not to bear children. In contrast, this study uses data from the 1965 National Fertility Study (NFS) to examine the influence of normative and micro‐economic variables on childlessness. The normative and microeconomic theories of fertility are reviewed, and their implications for voluntary childlessness are discussed. A subsample of women aged 20–34 from the 1965 NFS is used to examine the predictive power of these implications. Both normative and microeconomic variables demonstrate some discriminatory power. In particular, both Catholicism and increasing husband's income reduce the probability that a couple will intend to remain childless. It is suggested that further use of normative and microeconomic models and of data sets representative of large populations will significantly advance understanding of voluntary childlessness.