AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
the child as the main determinant of life happiness in a different
way. They agreed with the statement “It is not correct if people
do not have children as a meaning of life”. Parents agreed with
this statement the most (67%: I totally agree 31%, I rather
disagree 36%), then students (57%: I totally agree 30%, I rather
agree 27%). The least level of agreement was expressed by
grandparents (53%: I totally agree 33%, I rather agree 20%).
Grandparents questioned the meaning of the child as the life aim
the most.
We also found out differences in the opinions of respondents
when we were evaluating the voluntary childlessness. Parents
(46%) and grandparents (45%) agree to a greater extent with the
statement No 8 “Voluntary childlessness is an expression of
egoism, careerism and indolence”, i.e. they evaluate the
voluntary childlessness more negatively than students who
agreed with this statement the least (31%). At the same time, we
can see that students disagree with the negative evaluation of
voluntarily childless couples the most (49%), compared to
parents (35%) and grandparents (36%). On one side, there is the
acceptance of voluntary childlessness which is perceived as the
right of option (more presented by students). On the other side,
there is its criticising and negative evaluating categories such as
egoism, indolence and careerism (expressed more by parents and
grandparents).
3 Discussion and conclusions
In the presented study we aimed at the topic of the parental role
and childlessness as its alternative. Parenthood is considered to
be a natural, if not implied phase of marriage /partnership and it
has a significant influence on the personalities of people, their
thinking and emotional feelings, as well as on their interpersonal
relationships. Moreover, people have a tendency to believe that
parenthood is a synonym of meaningful and satisfying life.
During the last decades we have witnessed many changes in the
family life, e,g, increase of nonmarital cohabitations, single-
parent families, homosexual partnerships. For this reason, we
analysed opinions of respondents of three generations on
childlessness and parenthood in these types of family. Our aim
was to find out values and norms related to chosen aspects of
the parental role.
Our research findings confirmed the following conclusions:
acceptance of the norm about the “legalization” of the child
with the marriage of parents, i.e. the norm to get married
before the birth of the child,
a decreasing preference of the mother as a more competent
person in the care about children,
an ambivalent attitude to single parents,
a rejecting attitude to the parenthood of people of the same
gender
a weakening negative evaluation of the voluntary
childlessness.
From our research findings it is evident the decreasing norm
about the “legalization” of the child with the marriage of parents,
i.e. there increases the acceptance of the nonmarital form of
parenthood. We can mention that the generation of grandparents
is inclined to the norm of upbringing children in a married
family the most. However, the nonmarital form of parenthood is
gradually becoming more accepted. This fact is certainly related
to the fact that the stigma of a “child born out of a wedlock” is
getting weaker or even lost in our society. We also found out the
weakening preference of the mother as a more competent person
in the care about children. From the opinions of students and
parents it is evident that the traditional understanding of the
parental role as primarily the maternal one is getting weaker. On
the other hand, grandparents connect the upbringing and care
about children primarily with the maternal role.
When we were examining parenthood in alternative types of
family, we found out an ambivalent attitude of respondents of all
three generations to the parenthood in a single-parent family.
This fact corresponds with the opinion of Zartler (2014) who
thinks that although these families are accepted as a reality,
moral undertones have not disappeared from public and
scholarly discourses. Currently is more openly presented the
topic of cohabitation of people of the same gender and their right
on parenthood. McCann, Delmonte (2005, In Goldberg,
Downing, Moyer, 2012) state that parenting can be viewed as a
core human issue and the desire to parent as one that crosses the
lines of sexual orientation. Our research findings confirm
rejecting attitudes of the Slovak public to the legislation of
relationships of people of the same gender. We can say that the
older is the generation of respondents, the more rejecting attitude
they have to the upbringing of children by people of the same
gender. At the same time, the younger is the generation of
respondents, the more liberal opinions they have on this topic.
An increasing number of voluntarily childless people focuses the
attention of researchers also on this change in the area of family
life. Our research findings confirmed the fact that respondents
did not agree with the negative evaluation of voluntarily
childless people. This points out to the fact that the prejudice
about the obligation of adult people to look after and bring up
children, has already been overcome. The opinions of the public
lead to the perception of parenthood as an option, not as an
obligation. We can say that respondents do not perceive a child
as the only source of life happiness, but they attribute a
significant role to the child in the meaning of life. People who
have decided to be voluntarily childless for any reason, are not
negatively evaluated by the society.
We can conclude our study with the fact that our hypothesis, i.e.
the assumption of a statistically significant difference in the
opinions of respondents on chosen aspects of parenthood and
childlessness according to their generational group, was
confirmed. Statistically significant differences were evident
mainly between the generation of grandparents when they were
compared to the generation of parents and students whose
opinions were more liberal. We can suppose that opinions of
respondents depended on the fact if they already perform the
parental role. We agree with Kurincová, Turzáková, Turzák
(2018) who think that the ability for parenting does not come
automatically when one gives birth to a child. It’s a long and
difficult way to become a parent, to become a mother or a father.
Literature:
1. Beaujouan, E., Sobotka, T., Brzozowska, Z., Zeman, K.: Has
childlessness peaked in Europe? In Population & Societies.
2017. Retrieved from
https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubriq
ue/26128/540.population. societies.2017.january.en.pdf
2. Bosoni, M. L.: „Breadwinners” or “Involved Fathers?” Men,
Fathers and Work in Italy. In Journal of Comparative Family
Studies, 2014, XLV, 2, 293-315.
3. Evenson, R. J., Simon, R.: Clarifying the relationship between
parenthood and depression. In Journal of Health and Social
Behavior, 2005, 46, 4, 341–358.
4. Davies, L., Avison, W. R., McAlpine D. D.: Significant Life
Experiences and Depression among Single and Married
Mothers. In Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1997, 59, 2,
294–308.
5. Dunovský, J. et al.: Sociální pediatrie. Praha: Grada. 1999.
279p. ISBN 80-7169-254-9.
6. Goldberg, A. E., Downing, J. B., Moyer. A. M.: Why
Parenthood, and Why Now? Gay Men’s Motivations for
Pursuing Parenthood. In
Family Relations. Interdisciplinary
Journal of Applied Family Studies, 2012, 61, 1, 157 – 174.
7. Hansen,T.: Parenthood and Happiness: a Review of Folk
Theories Versus Empirical Evidence. In Social Indicators
Research, 2012, 108, 1, 29–64.
8.
Hašková, H.: Fenomén bezdětnosti. Praha: SLON, 2009.
264p. ISBN 978-80-7419-020-9.
9. Knoester , C., Eggebeen, D. J.: The effects of the transition to
parenthood and subsequent children on men’s well-being and
social participation. In Journal of Family Issues, 2006, 27, 11,
1532–1560.
10. Kurincová, V., Turzáková, J., Turzák, T.: First time mother
experience in qualitative studies - a literature review. In SGEM 2018:
5th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social
- 184 -