Measuring Differentiation of Self to Evaluate Subjective Well-Being in Women Who are Childfree by Choice

Abstract

Despite social expectations of parenthood, the proportion of people in the Western world who wish to have children is declining, and the proportion who do not want children is growing. We explored the effect of being “childfree by choice” on women's subjective well-being (SWB) by examining their level of differentiation of self, based on Bowen's family system theory. Fifty-one voluntarily child-free women and 62 mothers (control group) completed a demographic information questionnaire, the Personal Wellbeing Index – Adult (PWI-A), and the Differentiation of Self-Inventory – Revised (DSI-R). No differences were found between child-free women and mothers for four components of differentiation of self and life satisfaction and well-being. Women who chose to remain childfree for internal reasons expressed higher levels of satisfaction with life and SWB, and lower levels of emotional reactivity than those who remained childfree for external reasons. Self-differentiation (I-position) and emotional disengagement (emotional cutoff) significantly contributed to child-free women's well-being. Our results show the importance of emphasizing self-differentiation and emotional disengagement in the context of personal and marital therapy sessions and in therapeutic work with young women facing major life decisions on motherhood/voluntary childlessness.