More men than ever before are happy without children. A new study, published in Journal of Marriage and Family, suggests men are increasingly disinterested in fatherhood. The growing attitude towards fatherhood, is men don’t want it. More than a third of adult men in the US are childless.

The study says “a growing share of childless men do not want children and increasingly, a lack of children would not bother them at all.” There is a growing trend of men who don’t want to become fathers, content to be childless. “Across the first two decades of the 2000s, there is an increasing disinterest in becoming fathers among childless men. These trends have broad implications for family researchers who study fertility rates, men’s health, and family relationships,” the study concludes.

For the study, data from 3 sources was utilized focusing on the years 2000-2020: the National Survey of Family Growth, the Monitoring the Future study, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Transition to Adulthood supplement. 

The Monitoring the Future study asked high school seniors whether or not they wanted children, and if so how many.

The National Survey of Family Growth, asked questions about whether or not participants see themselves having children in the future and how bothered they would be if they never have children. 

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ transition to Adulthood Supplement examined men aged 18 to 28. Asking questions about the importance of family leave.

The results showed that for the last twenty years interest in having children among men without children has decreased, with the number of men reporting not wanting children doubling.

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi from Unsplash