Monographie

En ligne (disponible) - Monographie
Coping without children : comparative historical and cross-cultural perspectives / KREAGER, Philip.
Oxford : Oxford Institute of Ageing, 2004, 48 p.

http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/publications/papers/oia%20wp%20104.pdf (26-06-2006)
Collection : Oxford Institute of Ageing Working Papers ; WP 104
Format de fichier : Adobe Acrobat PDF Droits d'auteur : Cette oeuvre est protégée par un droit d'auteur. Elle ne peut être reproduite qu'à des fins d'études privées ou de recherche et seulement si la source est mentionnée.

Mots-clés principaux :
Enfant (lien filial)
Couple
Solitude
Isolement social
Histoire
Europe
Afrique
Célibat
Stratégie d'adaptation
Famille
Réseau informel


Résumé :
Older generations are composed of a number of distinctive sub-populations which need much closer attention if the differential impacts of population ageing are to be accurately assessed. One such population is older people without children, a group commonly assumed to consist chiefly of small minorities of infertile couples. This paper draws on historical and contemporary population studies to show that there are many societies that have experienced levels of childlessness of 10 to 20 percent and higher, over long periods. These levels derive only in small part from infecundity; consideration is necessary of a range of demographic factors, including migration, marriage patterns, contraception and pathological sterility. The implications of de facto childlessness suggest that limited or nil access to children is likely to be considerably higher than levels of infertility indicate. Rather than a marginal social phenomenon, significant numbers of elderly without children appear to be a consequence of enduring social arrangements, adaptations characteristic of longterm population stability, and adjustments to major social and economic change. Despite the aggregate advantages which levels of childlessness may give to a society in the long term, it nonetheless tends to compound the social and economic disadvantages of older people, and carries important implications for their social exclusion and powerlessness. The range of adaptive strategies that people may employ in response to childlessness and its consequences is reviewed, together with the empirical and methodological needs for further study.

Langue : Anglais
Type d'ouvrage AQESSS : DT

Doc n° : 19048
NumRec : 1904803

Childlessness.PDF