Gemis of Geluk: een Leven zonder Kinderen

Abstract

Loneliness is a rising issue in the Netherlands, mostly due to the aging population in the country. Another societal change in the Netherlands is the growing amount of people without children. To gain insight in the topic of loneliness and its corresponding factors, this recent study covers permanent childlessness and the effect of age on loneliness. Permanent childlessness is defined as not having had (biological or adoptive) children by the age of 40. Earlier research showed that childless people are especially lonely as they get older. The main focus of this research is to discover if childlessness contributes to feelings of loneliness. This study contains data from an online survey conducted under 140 Dutch persons of 40 years and older. A regression analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics 24, which showed that childlessness is a significant predictor of loneliness. Age, however, is not a significant predictor. Moreover, a moderation analysis was performed using PROCESS. Age turned out not to be a moderator in the relationship between childlessness and loneliness. Earlier research showed that being married or living together, makes people feel less lonely. Relationship status is thus recommended as a control variable for further research.