It’s probably not selfishness, experts say. Even young adults who want children see an increasing number of obstacles.
For years, some conservatives have framed the declining fertility rate of the United States as an example of eroding family values, a moral catastrophe in slow motion.
JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, recently came under fire for saying in 2021 that the nation was run by “childless cat ladies” who “hate normal Americans for choosing family over these ridiculous D.C. and New York status games.”
Last year, Ashley St. Clair, a Fox News commentator, described childless Americans this way: “They just want to pursue pleasure and drinking all night and going to Beyoncé concerts. It’s this pursuit of self-pleasure in replace of fulfillment and having a family.”
Researchers who study trends in reproductive health see a more nuanced picture. The decision to forgo having children is most likely not a sign that Americans are becoming more hedonistic, they say. For one thing, fertility rates are declining throughout the developed world.
Rather, it indicates that larger societal factors — such as rising child care costs, increasingly expensive housing and slipping optimism about the future — have made it feel more untenable to raise children in the United States.
I love my niece but fuck that I’m not doing that full time.
Because the earth is on fire and having kids is a good way to guarantee another human starves to death while having heat stroke?
The same poeple who wanted to ban having anyone else pay off kids school lunch debt, besides the parents, are the same people who get offended when we aren’t popping out kids. The same poeple who want zero maternity leave and zero prenatal support act like we are the worst of the worst. Don’t have children you can’t afford, no state welfare for you! So when we were like okay we won’t have kids they are all shocked Pikachu face.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Everything is expensive now, housing, food, etc. How can you raise children in this era?
Every time I talk to a friend with children it sounds like they’re trying to stop Woodstock ‘99, and I’m too tired for that.
I have better things to do
The future isn’t looking too good with all the rich fucks fucking the planet over. Everything is stupid expensive now, by the time you work and pay for childcare you’re better off staying at home. It’s really tough to get a house. It’s pretty depressing what has become the norm in this country thanks to the ultra rich. It’s about time to eat.
Can’t afford one. Jobs don’t pay enough to afford one. They’re annoying. They’re shit machines. I prefer to have fun in life and do what I like more than take care of a kid.
Yeah man, Ashley wasserface was pretty much right, aside from the drinking, statistically.
The initial implication it could be “selfishness” is retarded and shouldnt be there. Its not selfish to not bring a child into the world.
I’ve never understood that assumption either. Having a child is the clearly selfish choice if you’re going to choose to have this binary that one of the two is selfish.
Right? One of the two is clearly fucking selfish and its not the people that looked at the world and themselves and said “nah cant handle that”
Quite the opposite. People generally want children for selfish relations.
What a dumb, corporate, self-important headline. And limiting it to the United States is a particularly craven ploy to pump the political horse race.
NY Times special.
Bruh I can’t afford to support myself let alone more mouths to feed. Children lol
Because kids are not fun. People wanna have life.
gestures broadly
weird how all those tax cuts for rich people lead to them going on real estate purchasing sprees, making housing unaffordable
Meanwhile the rest of us pay more in taxes
I wonder if Vance checks for change before he fucks the couch. Would be painful to be mid stroke a find a quarter, I imaginem
