American men are losing interest in fatherhood

For better or for worse, we’re given scripts to follow throughout life, one of which is to find a partner, settle down, and have kids. 

However, according to a recent study, an increasing number of men aren’t interested in the last part. Robert Bozick, the director of the Houston Population Research Center, analyzed data from three sources: the National Survey of Family Growth, the Monitoring the Future Study, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Transition to Adulthood supplement. The first had data from over 18,000 men and included questions about whether or not the men wanted to have children in the future. The second asked over 20,000 high school seniors how many children they wanted and how likely they were to want children. The third collected data on over 1,600 young men ages 18 to 28, including data on how much family leave mattered to them. 

Bozick found that, over the past two decades, the number of childless men who do not want children has doubled. Meanwhile, the number of men who said that it was important to have parental leave decreased between 2005 to 2015. The study cites data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that 39.4% of men over the age of 15 have no children, “constituting a sizable share of the population that at present is poorly understood.” 

As Pew Research reported in November 2021, fertility rates were at a record low before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, although they have risen slightly since. Bozick’s study suggests the issue may not improve anytime soon. “If over time, fewer men are interested in becoming fathers,” he wrote, “the cumulative effect of this growing indifference could further suppress fertility rates in the United States.”

The study was published in July in the Journal of Marriage and Family. You can read the full story here.