DECISION-MAKING CONCERNING VOLUNTARY CHILDLESSNESS AND QUALITY OF MARITAL RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

The author of this paper discusses causes of voluntary childlessness in Poland from a gender perspective. The author presents results of her own research carried out as a part of a wider study analysiss of intentional childlessness. The issue covered in this article focuses on the micro-social causes of childlessness, that is the determinants of childlessness in the context of contemporarily changing, both, patterns of femininity and masculinity and the relationships between women and men. The first part of the article includes an analysis of the socio-cultural context in studies on intentional childlessness. The latter part of the paper presents key findings from focus group interviews and in-depth interviews conducted with childless people (married men and women).