A qualitative study of the experiences of heterosexual childfree women ages 40 and older

This research is a qualitative study of the experiences of childfree heterosexual women ages 40 and older. Eight childfree women participated in an in-person semi-structured interview and selected cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were administered. The semi-structured interview was used to explore conscious experiences and the TAT was used to examine the unconscious experiences of the childfree women in this study. Six themes derived from this study: (1) never experiencing a desire for children, (2) taking time to contemplate a childfree lifestyle, (3) possible negative opinions of others do not influence childfree decision, (4) support for the decision, (5) importance of family and (6) no regret. There were also three idiographic themes in this study. The main conclusion derived from this research is that an absence of the desire for motherhood does not indicate the absence of a maternal instinct. This research also discusses childfree men in the literature review.Keywords: childfree, childless, women, childfree men, pronatalism...