No regrets : the experience of intentional childlessness from the perspective of women at midlife

A qualitative, phenomenological methodology was used to explore the experience of intentional childlessness from the perspective often women at midlife. The participants were 45 to 52 years of age, believed that they had been physically capable of reproduction but were no longer fertile, and had been in a marriage or relationship where they perceived that they had the opportunity to have children. During individual, in-depth taped interviews, the women described their life experiences of intentional childllessness. Five common themes emerged from the analysis of the data, using a thematic analysis procedure devised by Colaizzi (1978). The themes described the women's sense of being an anomaly, the sense of marginalization, the sense of the ovenvhelrning costs of motherhood, the sense of freedom and autonomy, and the sense of having made the right choice.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat