Bezdzietność – wybór, ograniczenia, czy splot okoliczności? Jakościowa analiza procesu pozostawania bezdzietną
Childlessness – choice, obstacles or coincidence? Qualitative analysis of the process of remaining childless

Summary/Abstract: Even though survey studies recurrently show that Poles want to have children and that parenthood is important to them, more and more Polish women remain childless. This discrepancy calls for a closer consideration. We need to understand a nature of childbearing desires and intentions much better and investigate obstacles which might prevent women from fulfilling them. In this paper, I analyse 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with childless women aged 37–46. The qualitative methodology is applied to explore what preferences, circumstances and life-choices of the respondents have led them to childlessness. The respondents discussed several factors: A lack of a partner, fecundity problems, postponement of childbearing related to employment or life priorities other than family and childbearing. However, the results show that it is rarely possible to find a single reason for remaining childless, as various factors collide and interact in women’s lives.

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