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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Demography. 2022 Jun 1;59(3):813–826. doi: 10.1215/00703370-9987649

Table 3.

Sociodemographic differences in childlessness among Americans aged 55 or older in 2014, by definition of childlessness

Characteristic Biological Definition Functional Definition Social Definition
%
Without Children		 OR
After Adjusting for Age		 %
Without Children		 OR
After Adjusting for Age		 %
Without Children		 OR
After Adjusting for Age
Weighted Sample Sizea 85,757,057 85,219,941 84,640,231
Age
 55–59 17.9 N.A. 16.4 N.A. 12.0 N.A.
 60–64 14.9 N.A. 14.3 N.A. 10.5 N.A.
 65–69 13.4 N.A. 12.5 N.A. 9.0 N.A.
 70–74 11.1 N.A. 9.0 N.A. 6.9 N.A.
 75–79 8.8 N.A. 7.4 N.A. 5.9 N.A.
 80–84 9.1 N.A. 8.1 N.A. 6.8 N.A.
 ≥85 10.6 N.A. 9.8 N.A. 8.0 N.A.
 p valueb <.001 N.A. <.001 N.A. <.001 N.A.
Gender
 Men 14.6 ref. 13.3 ref. 9.6 ref.
 Women 12.7 0.88 (0.79, 0.99)* 11.7 0.90 (0.80, 1.01) 9.0 0.96 (0.83, 1.10)
 p valueb .007 .04 .01 .07 .29 .52
Race/Ethnicity
 Non-Hispanic White 14.5 2.14 (1.67, 2.75)*** 13.1 2.20 (1.64, 2.94)*** 9.6 1.90 (1.39, 2.60)***
 Non-Hispanic Black 11.6 1.58 (1.14, 2.18)** 12.0 1.89 (1.36, 2.61)*** 9.3 1.75 (1.20, 2.55)**
 Hispanic 7.8 ref. 6.8 ref. 5.6 ref.
 Other 13.2 1.76 (1.15, 2.70)* 13.1 2.01 (1.29, 3.13)** 10.7 1.99 (1.19, 3.32)**
 p valueb <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 .001
Educational Attainment
 <High school 8.9 ref. 7.9 ref. 5.8 ref.
 High school 11.1 1.22 (1.01, 1.47)* 10.4 1.28 (1.02, 1.62)* 7.7 1.30 (0.99, 1.69)
 >High school 16.2 1.79 (1.54, 2.08)*** 14.7 1.81 (1.48, 2.21)*** 11.1 1.87 (1.44, 2.41)**
 p valueb <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
Income (equivalized)
 Quartile 1: <$16,296 15.5 ref. 15.7 ref. 13.3 ref.
 Quartile 2: $16,296–$31,199 11.1 0.71 (0.58, 0.86)*** 10.5 0.66 (0.53, 0.81)*** 7.8 0.57 (0.44, 0.74)***
 Quartile 3: $31,200–$59,465 14.0 0.85 (0.70, 1.03) 12.6 0.74 (0.58, 0.94)* 9.4 0.65 (0.52, 0.81)***
 Quartile 4: >$59,465 13.8 0.76 (0.62, 0.94)* 11.5 0.60 (0.47, 0.77)*** 7.8 0.48 (0.37, 0.61)***
 p valueb .005 .003 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
Wealth (equivalized)
 Quartile 1: <$17,961 14.6 ref. 14.6 ref. 11.7 ref.
 Quartile 2: $17,961–$115,999 12.1 0.81 (0.68, 0.98)* 11.1 0.73 (0.61, 0.87)*** 8.2 0.68 (0.54, 0.84)***
 Quartile 3: $116,000–$371,938 12.2 0.85 (0.70, 1.03) 10.6 0.72 (0.59, 0.89)** 7.8 0.66 (0.52, 0.84)***
 Quartile 4: >$371,938 15.1 1.09 (0.90, 1.33) 13.5 0.96 (0.77, 1.20) 9.6 0.83 (0.65, 1.07)
 p valueb .005 .002 <.001 <.001 <.001 .001
Marital Status
 Married/partnered 9.5 ref. 7.9 ref. 3.9 ref.
 Separated/divorced 10.8 1.15 (0.93, 1.42) 11.2 1.46 (1.18, 1.80)*** 9.8 2.63 (2.08, 3.31)***
 Widowed 9.3 1.23 (1.01, 1.50)* 8.2 1.36 (1.10, 1.67)** 5.0 1.44 (1.17, 1.78)**
 Never married 69.4 21.36 (17.43, 26.19)*** 69.4 26.35 (20.65, 33.63)*** 69.3 54.58 (40.98, 72.70)***
 p valueb <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001

Notes: N.A. = not applicable. OR = odds ratio. Numbers in parentheses are 95% CIs.

a

Respondents with unknown status of childlessness were excluded from this analysis. The corresponding unweighted sample sizes were N = 17,160 for the biological definition; N = 17,054 for the functional definition; and N = 16,922 for the social definition. In addition, respondents with unknown status on a given sociodemographic characteristic were also excluded. No more than 26 (unweighted) or 95,721 (weighted) respondents had missing values for any given sociodemographic characteristic.

b

The p value reflects whether the likelihood of childlessness differed significantly by the given sociodemographic characteristic.

*

p < .05;

**

p < .01;

***

p < .001