It’s probably not selfishness, experts say. Even young adults who want children see an increasing number of obstacles.

For years, some conservatives have framed the declining fertility rate of the United States as an example of eroding family values, a moral catastrophe in slow motion.

JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, recently came under fire for saying in 2021 that the nation was run by “childless cat ladies” who “hate normal Americans for choosing family over these ridiculous D.C. and New York status games.”

Last year, Ashley St. Clair, a Fox News commentator, described childless Americans this way: “They just want to pursue pleasure and drinking all night and going to Beyoncé concerts. It’s this pursuit of self-pleasure in replace of fulfillment and having a family.”

Researchers who study trends in reproductive health see a more nuanced picture. The decision to forgo having children is most likely not a sign that Americans are becoming more hedonistic, they say. For one thing, fertility rates are declining throughout the developed world.

Rather, it indicates that larger societal factors — such as rising child care costs, increasingly expensive housing and slipping optimism about the future — have made it feel more untenable to raise children in the United States.

Non-paywall link

  • @Mediocre_Bard
    link
    391 month ago

    Bank accounts are empty, and the air is full of smoke.

    • ...m...
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      fedilink
      161 month ago

      the car’s on fire
      and there’s no driver at the wheel
      and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
      and a dark wind blows