جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه "childlessness" در نشریات گروه "علوم اجتماعی"

Male infertility is one of the reasons for accepting adopted children in Iranian families. While the discourse on infertility and child adoption predominantly focuses on women, thereby characterizing the issues as 'feminized', this study employs a descriptive phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of 10 infertile men in Mashhad who have adopted children. Study participants were purposefully chosen from the 'Hammasirha' Telegram group. The data obtained from the in-depth semi-structured interview, conducted form February 2022 to May 2023, underwent analysis using the Colaizzi's method. The analysis reveals three distinct main themes: 1). "Burden of Childlessness" which encompsses the ‘suffering of infertility’, ‘suffering from facing significant others’, ‘empty nest’ and ‘unsuccessful treatment’; 2). "Difficult Transition" including ‘challenges directed at oneself’, ‘challenges directed at taking action’, ‘challenges directed at others’ and the ‘challenges related to the adopted child’; and 3). "Paternity Without a Body" highlighting ‘endless concerns’, ‘development of paternal identity’, ‘the desire to have children’ and ‘modern fatherhood’. The findings revealed that in response to societal pressures and the stigma attached to being childless, these men chose adoption as a pathway to establish their paternal identity and to respond to their wives' maternal instincts. Despite ongoing concerns, they expressed satisfaction with their decision and viewed it positively.

The phenomenon of infertility encompasses a range of subsequent challenges that extend beyond medical concerns, including the psychological and social strategies individuals adopt to cope with childlessness. These strategies, particularly adoption, are subject to varying interpretations and emotional responses by men and women alike. Gender is not merely a biological distinction but a category that is deeply rooted in the social context (Miller & Scholnick, 2000), which plays a pivotal role in shaping how individuals confront the complexities of infertility and the pursuit of parenthood through alternative means such as adoption. Male infertility, which refers to the inability of a man to impregnate a woman, accounts for between 40 and 50 percent (Fisher & Hammarberg, 2017) of all infertility cases (Agarwal et al., 2020). Recent researches show that infertility often leads to men's masculinity being questioned (Hanna & Gough, 2016) and that the stigma associated with male infertility is widespread (Gannon, Glover & Abel, 2004; Ozkan et al. 2015). This stigma indicates not only individual suffering but also societal pressure men face due to involuntary childlessness (Peronace, Boivin & Schmidt, 2007). Although infertility challenges affect both infertile women and men, research in the social sciences has disproportionately focused on women, with only a small fraction addressing the impact and the experiences of male infertility (Hanna & Gough, 2020). Moreover, due to the prevailing sexist norms, the realm of biological reproduction remains a “feminized space, requiring women's commitment and work” (Hanna & Gough, 2015). The subject of adoption, particularly within the infertility literature, has been received little systematic attention within the literature (Freeark, et al. 2005). To fully understand this domain, new studies is needed that provide appropriate indights into the adoption challenges in the existing socio-cultural context, especially concerning the gender of adoptive parents.
The current study aims to present a new perspective on the challenges these men have encountered transitioning from infertility to fatherhood, by exploring the lived experiences of infertile men who have adopted children. 

The present study, employing descriptive phenomenology methodology, aims to uncover the lived experiences of infertile men who have adopted a child. The focus is on infertile Iranian men who who have become fathers through adoption. The criteria for inclusion in the study were infertility due to male causes, adoption of a child, a minimum of five years in a childless marital unions, willingness and readiness for an interview, and residence in Mashhad. Data was gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews centered on infertility problems, the adoption process, and subsequent post-adoption experiences. The duration of the interviews is 90 minutes on average, stating with the main question, "Where did your adoption story begin?" Follow-up questions were tailored based on prior responses, becoming increasingly specific. Purposeful sampling was utilized to select participants who could provide rich insights into the adoption experience among infertile men, acknowledging that such individuals are key informants for this research topic (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). 

Analysis of data on the experiences of infertile men participating in the research were organized into three main themes: 1). the experience of infertility labeled as "Burden of Childlessness"; 2). the experiences of the adoption process termed "Difficult Transition"; and 3). the experiences of the rout to fatherhood described as "Paternity without a Body".
The "Burden of Childlessness" encompasses the ‘suffering from infertility’, ‘suffering from facing significant others’, ‘empty nest’ and ‘unsuccessful treatment’; the "Difficult Transition" covers the ‘challenges directed at oneself’, ‘challenges directed at taking action’, ‘challenges directed at others’ and the ‘challenges related to the adopted child’; and the "Paternity without a Body" involves ‘endless concerns’, ‘development of paternal identity’, ‘the desire to have children’ and ‘modern fatherhood’.

The theme of "The Burden of Infertility" reveals that men who are the source of infertility have experienced internal negative emotions and societal stigma stemming from their infertility, leading to feeling of inadequacy and deficiency in their sense of masculinity. In fact, these individuals often percieve themselves as not being "complete men", experiencing what is termed "silenced masculinity" (Abbaszadeh et al., 2023), as the prevailing societal image of masculinity is that of a man capable of procreation and fathering children. 
The analysis of participants' narratives indicates that, in accordance with Goffman (1963), both infertility and childlessness, as well as adoption of a child, lead to both personal and societal stigma for infertile men who become adoptive parents.
The findings suggest that infertile men who proceed with adopting a child confront numerous challenges, including including grappling with infertility both internally (with themselves) and externally (with their spouse and others), the dilemma of choosing between treatment or adoption, as well as the procedural complexities and the post-adoption consequences. Therefore, dealing with each of these problems necessitates specialized counseling and psychological intervention, which is especially crucial given the significance of the mental well-being of adoptive families and the enhancement of the adoption experience.

This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the first author of the article in the field of Women's Studies, which was completed at the Faculty of Women and Family, Qom University of Religions & Denominations,. The authors of the article would like to thank all those who supported this research and the anonymous reviewers of the paper for their constructive feedbacks.

Childlessness and one-child style in the world have been deep and significant consequences of rapid fertility decline in the 20th century that has brought several challenges. This study investigated the prevalence of childless and one-child families and the factors affecting them in Tehran city. The statistical population of this survey included the married people of Tehran city, among of which 1273 married men and women were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. The analysis was done using SPSS software and binary logistic regression. There have been 2.4% childlessness ideal, 16.5% one-child ideal, 4.1% childlessness intention, and 24.9% one-child intention. The childlessness and one-child ideal and intention are affected by a set of contextual, attitudinal, structural, and marital variables. The childlessness ideal is affected significantly by egalitarian attitudes and decreased feeling of security and childlessness intention is significantly affected by egalitarian attitudes, decreased feeling of security and decreased marital happiness. One-child ideal is significantly more reported among men and young people and people of higher income, lower religiosity, egalitarian gender attitudes and a lower feeling of security. One-child intention is reported significantly more among men, young people, people of having higher degrees, lower religiosity, egalitarian gender attitudes, and lower feeling of security. Generally, it can be said that childlessness intention and ideal are not common and one-child intention and ideal were more common. Childlessness and one-child intention are more than childlessness and one-child ideal. The attitudinal variables have been more effective than other factors. Taking proper policies will reduce the gap between the intention and the ideal of childbearing and will increase fertility.

The increasing prevalence of childlessness over the last four decades worldwide has garnered the attention of researchers. This research aims to review studies on childlessness in Iran and worldwide. The studies were categorized into three sections: childlessness rate, causes, and consequences. The childlessness rate is generally lower in developing regions compared to developed countries, although it is increasing in the former group. The most significant causes of childlessness include urbanization, expansion of education, the cost of raising children, gender equality, individual independence, and well-being, concerns about population growth and environmental sustainability, the structure of welfare states, and diminishing religion and religious beliefs influence. The consequences of childlessness tend to be predominantly negative, with depression, anxiety, social stigma, divorce, and spousal violence. Nonetheless, some positive outcomes, such as higher life satisfaction and well-being, have also been reported. An overlooked aspect in this area is the neglect of men and the need to examine the impact of this phenomenon on families and society, rather than solely focusing on women. Only a few studies have been conducted on childlessness in Iran, and accurate statistics regarding its prevalence are unavailable. The existing statistics are derived from studies conducted for different purposes. The findings suggest that childlessness has not yet escalated to a problematic level, despite the increasing trends.

The present study focuses primarily on childlessness which is recognized as one of the most important demographic characteristics associated with fertility and childbearing patterns in modern family and contemporary world. Although childlessness existed in the past, it is growing fast in the contemporary societies in the 21st century and its growth is projected to continue, leading to an increasing proportion of childless couples in future. The literature review indicates that childlessness has not yet been given sufficient attention in the existing literature in Iran. The present research sits amongst the first studies at which not only childlessness is given central focus and specific attention, but also both people ‘having no child’ and people ‘wanting no child’ are simultaneously taken into account. According to the results of this study, childlessness still remains as an insignificant observation in Iran: not only there is almost no preference for childlessness, but also the proportion of couples with no child is low. However, the results also show some concerns and challenges associated with a high level of age threshold for childlessness that can substantially increase the probability of biological childlessness due to postponing childbearing to older ages. In conclusion, the results of this study support the fact that the prospect of childlessness pattern in Iran will overwhelmingly depend on the existence and extent of adequate planning and comprehensive policies in the macro level of “state and government” particularly regarding job opportunities and economic openness in order to facilitate marriage and childbearing.

The present research aimed at identifying the causes of the tendency for low childbearing action or family without a child in women. This is an applied, qualitative-grounded theory method research. The participants of the research were 11 married women who were selected with respect to some criteria and through purposive sampling and theoretical approach. The research tool was a semi-structured in-depth interview carried out through analysis of the content of the interviews by tripartite stages of open, axial, and selective coding. The validity of the data was assessed based on the viewpoint of the participants of the research and the experts from outside the research. The reliability of the research was examined through recoding by the assistant encoder and the reliability coefficient was calculated to be 80%. The findings indicated that from the viewpoint of the participants 10 axial themes affect the tendency to low childbearing action or family without a child in the married women. These themes include economic challenges, the inefficiency of a large family, body management, dual tolerance, destiny, emergency and fear, incurable and unwanted infertility, conditional agreement, their past and the past of the other, and social pressure. Finally, a paradigm model of the tendency to low childbearing action in women was presented.

The purpose of this research is to study the attitude towards the child phenomenon in the current world. In today's world, we are witnessing change and transformation in all aspects of individual, family and social life. Changes that are inevitable and necessary for the world that surrounds us. Hence, many pre-existing gender roles and sources of identity have lost their priority for modern man and provided him with newer possibilities for self-presentation and a sense of worth. The couple's attitude towards the child, as much as it is an individual or marital decision and choice, can be a result of the change of the couple's identity in the new era, which in both cases (Wanting or not wanting child) will have different consequences on the couple of the last decade than the couples of previous generations. The method of this theory is data foundation. The data required for this study are the result of a semi-structured interview with 18 young couples. The method of selecting participants is purposeful and accessible and their number is determined by reaching the saturation stage. Based on the results of the research, the two central phenomena of "unilateral unstable agreement" and "priority of navigation to adherence" were selected as the central phenomena and the selective phenomenon of "identity fluidity" was selected as the main paradigm. One of the causes of this phenomenon is rethinking identity and self-awareness is a process that results in the social acceptance of childlessness in society.

According to the second demographic transition theory, the contemporary societies are facing an increasing range of emerging forms of family, which is the central focus of the present study.  One of the main characteristics of the past centruries so-called ‘Golden Age’ was the importance of family and the stability of marital union. On the contrary, contemporary societies are witnessing substantial challenges in family ties and marital union. Some of these family challenges are the increasing proportion of unmarried individuals, growing age of marriage, substantial fall in birth and fertility rate, the increasing trends of divorce, childlessness, one-child family, single-parent family, and cohabitation. In particular, this article presents research-based evidence to explore patterns and determinants associated with attitudes toward emerging forms of family identified by childlessness, one-child family, single-parent family, and cohabitation.

This analysis is based on a survey conducted in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, GonbadKavos, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, Hamadan, and Saghez. The survey includes 4267 males and females aged 15 years old and over. The main independent variable of this analysis is the emerging forms of family, which is measured and identified by childlessness, one-child family, single-parent family, and cohabitation. In addition, the dependents variables of this study are classified in three major categories. The first category of independent variables referes to demographic factors: age, gender (males, females), place of residence (rural and urban areas), marital status, and level of education. The second category of independent variables is related to gender attitude. It is measured in this analysis by the attitude of individuals towards the male-breadwinner model and women’s employment outside the home. The last category of independent variables includes religiosity. It is measured in this analysis in three ways: individuals’ self-assesment about their religiosity, their attitudes towards women’s dress codes or hijab, and attitude towards women’s right to decide about dress codes or hijab.

On the basis of the preliminary results of this analysis, the following general patterns can be highlighted. First, childlessness is substantially unacceptable as only 2 percent of people hold positive attitude toward this emerging form of family. Second, about one-tenth of people are positive towards one-child family. Third, a relatively greater proportion of people hold positive attitudes towards both single-parent family and cohabitation since around 20 per cent of people are positive towards each of these two emerging forms of family. Moreover, these general patterns are significantly affected by three groups of determinants. It includes determinants related to gender attitudes, religiosity, and basic demographic determinants such as age, place of residence, marital status, and education. For example, the unmarrieds are more likely than the marrieds to hold a positive attitude towards the emerging forms of family. It is even more visible and stronger among the divorced ones, as compared with both singles and the marrieds. The divorced individuals are twice as likely as both singles and the marrieds to hold a positive attitude towards the emerging forms of family. This applies to the all emerging forms of family considered in this study: one-child family, single-parent family, and cohabitation. Another example relates to the effect of educational level: the higher the level of education, the greater the proportion of positive attitude towards the all emerging forms of family including one-child family, single-parent family, and cohabitation. Another demographic determinant in this analysis is age composition which plays a significant role in the attitude towards emerging forms of family: while the older age cohorts are more conservative and largely hold negative attitude towards the all emerging forms of family, the opposite exists among the younger age cohorts. For instance, the proportion of positive attitude towards cohabition amongst the youger cohort aged 15-24 years old is more than 5 times greater than the corresponding proportion amongst the older cohort aged 50 years and above. This also reflects an overwhelming generational gap with regards to the social perception towards the emerging forms of family.In conclusion, the results of this study can be mainly summerized and explained by the traditiaonalism-modenization model, suggesting that the positive attitudes towards emerging forms of family are substantially associated with modern and liberal beliefs: the stronger the later, the higher the former.

This article presents research-based evidence to examine patterns and determinants associated with childbearing desires in Iran. The sample includes 2878 people aged 15 and above living in the rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Gonbad Kavos, Mahmoudabad and Hamadan. Generally speaking, the research findings indicate an increasing generational gap in childbearing desires. While such patterns as childlessness and one-child model are not accepted, the two-child model is the most visible pattern of childbearing desire. The findings support the gender convergence suggesting that men and women share close childbearing desires. However, childbearing desires vary substantially by attitudes towards gender roles.