Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
DOI 10.1007/s11199-016-0606-1
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Parenthood as a Moral Imperative? Moral Outrage
and the Stigmatization of Voluntarily Childfree
Women and Men
Leslie Ashburn-Nardo 1
Published online: 11 March 2016
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Nationally representative data indicate that adults
in the United States are increasingly delaying the decision to
have children or are forgoing parenthood entirely. Although
some empirical research has examined the social conse-
quences of adults decision to be childfree, few studies have
identified explanatory mechanisms for the stigma this popu-
lation experiences. Based on the logic of backlash theory and
research on retributive justice, the present research examined
moral outrage as a mechanism through which voluntarily
childfree targets are perceived less favorably than are targets
with children for violating the prescribed social role of parent-
hood. In a between-subjects experiment, 197 undergraduates
(147 women, 49 men, 1 participant with missing gender data)
from a large U.S. Midwestern urban university were randomly
assigned to evaluate a male or female married target who had
chosen to have zero or two children. Participants completed
measures of the targets perceived psychological fulfillment
and their affective reactions to the target. Consistent with ear-
lier studies, voluntarily childfree targets were perceived as
significantly less psychologically fulfilled than targets with
two children. Extending past research, voluntarily childfree
targets elicited significantly greater moral outrage than did
targets with two children. My findings were not qualified by
targets gender. Moral outrage mediated the effect of target
parenthood status on perceived fulfillment. Collectively, these
* Leslie Ashburn-Nardo
lashburn@iupui.edu
1
Department of Psychology, Indiana University Purdue University
Indianapolis, 402 N. Blackford St., LD 124,
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3275, USA
findings offer the first known empirical evidence of percep-
tions of parenthood as a moral imperative.
Keywords Parenthood . Gender . Childfree . Moral outrage .
Stigma
A 2013 Time magazine cover featured the headline, BThe
childfree life: When having it all means not having children^
(Sandler and Witteman 2013). Indeed, data from the Centers
for Disease Control document that the birthrate in the United
States steadily declined between 2007 and 2013 (Martin et al.
2015), and a 2010 Pew Research Report estimates that 1 in 5
women in the United States will remain childfree (Livingston
and Cohn 2010). The declining birthrate is not limited to the
United States, but is also occurring in Europe, China, and
Japan (CBS/AP 2014). This growing demographic of
childfree adults provided the impetus for revisiting the litera-
ture regarding stigmatization of voluntarily childfree women
and men.
In the present research, I used experimental methodology
to investigate negative perceptions of people who choose not
to have children. Specifically, my study examined whether
targets who had chosen not to have children, compared with
targets who had children, would be seen as less psychologi-
cally fulfilled. Unlike some previous studies that have exam-
ined such perceptions (e.g., Mueller and Yoder 1997), the
present study also included target gender as a potential mod-
erator of the relationship between target parenthood status and
perceived fulfillment. Including target gender as a variable
allowed for the possibility that penalties for disinterest in hav-
ing children might be greater for women than for men. Most
importantly, using the lens of backlash theory (Rudman and
Fairchild 2004) and the model of retributive justice (Darley
and Pittman 2003), my study identified an important
394
mechanism responsible for the stigmatization of voluntarily
childfree people: moral outrage.
Perceptions of People Without Children
Although by no means a voluminous literature, the study of
perceptions of people who are without children of their own
whether by choice or by circumstanceis not new. Within the
social psychological literature, the earliest studies appear to be
from the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps a timely reaction to the
U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 landmark decision on reproduc-
tive rights (Roe v. Wade 1973). These studies, as will be de-
scribed later, were descriptive in nature and utilized both qual-
itative and quantitative approaches. Resultsobtained with
samples of male and female U.S. college students unless oth-
erwise notedconsistently indicated less favorable percep-
tions of non-parents than of parents, with the least positive
ratings often of voluntarily childfree people. Specifically, rel-
ative to those who had chosen to become parents, targets who
had chosen not to have children were viewed as less fulfilled
and more poorly adjusted psychologically (Jamison et al.
1979). Collectively, this literature demonstrates stigmatization
of this childfree demographic. Perhaps the only targets stig-
matized more than those who were voluntarily childfree were
women who were pregnant and unhappy about it (Shields and
Cooper 1983).
Researchers revisited these questions in subsequent years
in samples of U.S. college students and working adults, and
findings changed very little. Specifically, in the 1990s,
Mueller and Yoder provided evidence that voluntarily
childfree women not only were evaluated less favorably than
mothers by both women and men (Mueller and Yoder 1997),
but also reported experiencing more stigma and pressure
about their parenthood decision than did mothers whose fam-
ilies were normative in size (Mueller and Yoder 1999). For
example, in the latter study, voluntarily childfree women re-
ported being frequently asked personally invasive questions
such as BWhy wouldnt you want kids?^ (Mueller and Yoder
1999, p. 912). Likewise, research published in the 2000s re-
ported that voluntarily childfree people were more negatively
evaluated by women and men than people who were infertile
or for whom there was no explanation for their childlessness
(Kopper and Smith 2001). Such penalties were attenuated in a
later study of male and female college students when the
childfree status was perceived as temporary rather than as
permanent (Koropeckyj-Cox et al. 2007).
Taken together, the aforementioned studies demonstrate
that across three decades and across various methods and
measures, reactions to people who choose to be childfree,
relative to those who choose to have children, have remained
consistently negative. Voluntarily childfree people elicited less
favorable evaluations and were perceived as psychologically
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
unfulfilled or maladjusted. However, remarkably absent from
this literature is much theorizing regarding why such stigma-
tization of voluntarily childfree people persists in the United
States, even in the face of steadily declining birthrates.
Parenthood as a Social Prescription
Although choosing to become a parent may be becoming
somewhat less typical in the United States, extant findings
suggest that, in the eyes of most perceivers, choosing parent-
hood is still significantly more desirable than being voluntar-
ily childfree (Kopper and Smith 2001; Koropeckyj-Cox et al.
2007). In the stereotyping literature, what is typical can be
distinguished from what is desirable (Burgess and Borgida
1999). Whereas descriptive stereotypes include behaviors
seen as typical of a social group, prescriptive and proscriptive
stereotypes imply an expectation or obligation. In other
words, prescribed behaviors are behaviors that people ought
to do and proscribed behaviors are behaviors that people
ought not to do.
In an effort to identify descriptive, prescriptive, and
proscriptive gender stereotypes, Prentice and Carranza (2002)
examined the perceived typicality and desirability of various
traits and characteristics for women and men among U.S. male
and female college students. Findings revealed that women
were prescribed to be warm and kind, and men were prescribed
to have good business sense; women were proscribed from
being rebellious and men from being emotional (Prentice and
Carranza 2002). The findings of Prentice and Carranza also
indicated that perceptions of what is typical for women and
men differed very little from perceptions of what is desirable
for women and men. This consistency likely underscores the
power of gender socialization. That is, whether through direct
experience or through observation, girls and boys learn to en-
gage in behaviors that are socially rewarded and to avoid be-
haviors that are socially punished (Bandura 1977).
Most germane to the present research, Prentice and
Carranza (2002) found that having an interest in children
was prescribed as highly desirable for both women and men.
This prescription was somewhat more relaxed for men than
for women, but the mean desirability of Binterest in children^
was above the scale midpoint for both genders as well as for
people in general. As with many of the other gender stereo-
types in their research, Prentice and Carranza found that inter-
est in children was both a descriptive and prescriptive stereo-
type; in other words, it was seen as both a typical interest as
well as an obligatory one.
Aside from any biological motives to reproduce, U.S. chil-
dren are indeed socialized by their parents to want to become
parents. Classic tests of social learning theory demonstrate
that children imitate the warm, nurturing behaviors of models
with whom they identify (Bandura and Huston 1961). Thus, to
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
the extent that children identify with their parents, they ob-
serve and learn parenting behavior. Consider, for example, the
popularity of playing the imaginative game Bhouse^ with ba-
by dolls. One qualitative study found that U.S. parents encour-
aged such nurturing play for children of both genders, even
among boys Bto prepare sons for fatherhood^ (Kane 2006, p.
160). Indeed, national survey data indicate that parental so-
cialization has a strong influence on childrens parenthood
decisions (Starrels and Holm 2000).
Peers also play an important role in shaping parenthood
decisions among U.S. adolescents. For example, one nation-
ally representative longitudinal survey found that knowing
peers who had a child significantly predicted teens own child-
bearing at least in the short term; over time, the influence of
peer parenthood decreased (Balbo and Barban 2014). These
findings suggest that peers having children established a
norm of acceptability regarding parenthood.
Collectively, these studies help explain the process by
which having an interest in children became both a descriptive
and prescriptive stereotype for women and men. Through par-
ents (Starrels and Holm 2000) and peers (Balbo and Barban
2014), people learn that parenthood is both typical and expect-
ed. Although these studies were conducted with U.S. samples,
the gender stereotyping literature in general provides compel-
ling evidence to suggest that these norms likely hold across
cultures. Multi-nation studies demonstrate remarkable consis-
tency in gender stereotypes and expectations across a variety
of cultures (Williams and Best 1990). Indeed, studies conduct-
ed in Turkey (opur and Koropeckyj-Cox 2010) and India
(Riessman 2000) demonstrate similar stigmatization of people
without children as observed in the United States.
Backlash: Reactions to Norm Violators
What happens when people violate strongly held norms and
expectations such as those regarding parenthood and interest
in children? Backlash theory (Rudman and Fairchild 2004)
suggests there are potentially serious consequences. Rudman
and Fairchild (2004) proposed backlash theory to explain the
maintenance of cultural stereotypes. They argued that people
who violate social role expectations based on widely shared
cultural stereotypes are subject to perceivers backlash, such
as social and economic sanctions and sabotage. This backlash
is justified in the minds of perceivers because the targets are
thought to have brought it upon themselves by not fulfilling
their expected roles. In short, backlash theory suggests that
cultural stereotypes often serve as injunctive norms, specify-
ing which behaviors most others will approve or disapprove
(Cialdini et al. 1990) and justifying punishment of people who
violate these norms.
Much of the extant empirical research in support of back-
lash theory has involved gender stereotypes of agency and
395
communality and has been conducted with U.S. samples.
The findings of Prentice and Carranza (2002) indicate that
women are stereotypically associated with warmth and kind-
ness (communality) and men with ambition and self-reliance
(agency). Consistent with backlash theory, highly agentic
and therefore counter-stereotypicfemale job applicants are
penalized in terms of perceived warmth and social compe-
tence, which in turn results in decreased likelihood of being
hired (Rudman and Glick 1999). Similarly, female leaders
who exhibit dominance are rated less likable and less hireable
than women who conform to gender prescriptions of kindness
and warmth (Rudman et al. 2012).
Women not only are penalized for being what they are
proscribed not to be (e.g., agentic), but also face backlash
when they fail to meet prescribed expectations. For example,
given that women are expected to be communal, they are
similarly expected to engage in organizational citizenship be-
havioraltruistic workplace behavior that is not part of ones
job description. Women who fail to engage in such behavior
are disliked (Heilman and Chen 2005) and have lower salaries
and fewer promotions (Allen 2006). Furthermore, backlash is
not limited to women who violate gender-role expectations.
Men who exhibit modesty about their accomplishments,
thereby purposely downplaying prescribed leadership ability,
are penalized in terms of likability and hireability (Moss-
Racusin et al. 2010). In short, women and men are subject to
social and economic backlash for violating expectations based
on culturally shared prescriptive gender stereotypes.
In the present research, violating the prescribed interest-in-
children stereotype by being voluntarily childfree is expected
to evoke similar backlash. Specifically, voluntarily childfree
targets should be perceived as less psychologically fulfilled
than are targets who have chosen to be parents, thereby ful-
filling their prescribed roles (Jamison et al. 1979; Shields and
Cooper 1983).
Beyond Backlash: Moral Outrage
Outside the gender stereotyping literature, research on moral
transgressions suggests especially harsh penalties for people
who intentionally commit a wrongdoing. In their model of
retributive justice, Darley and Pittman (2003) propose that
perpetrators who are perceived as intentionally (rather than
accidentally or negligently) committing a wrong or inflicting
harm evoke moral outrage in perceivers and, in turn, motivate
retribution or punishment. Moral outrage includes feelings of
anger, contempt, and disgust (Rozin et al. 1999). Darley and
Pittman reviewed evidence across a variety of studies
supporting its role in retributive justice.
Intentional wrongdoings need not involve a specific victim,
but can be harms to the Bfabric of society,^ that is, threats to
cultural worldviews and violations of societal norms (Darley
396
and Pittman 2003, p. 330). Consistent with that reasoning,
Okimoto and Brescoll (2010) found among online respon-
dents in the United States that female politicians who actively
sought powersomething women, according to gender role
prescriptions, ought not to doelicited moral outrage, which
in turn predicted their lower likelihood of receiving votes. In
other words, these women were viewed as more than atypical
or unfavorable; perceivers were actually outraged, angered,
and even disgusted by them. Furthermore, these emotional
reactions mediated the relationship between the communality
violation and perceivers penalization of the women via their
voting behavior. These findings suggest that the womens
power-seeking behavior was seen as morally wrong; the wom-
en had disturbed the natural order of things by violating their
prescribed role. Okimoto and Brescoll provided the first ex-
tension of backlash theory to include moral emotions in re-
sponse to behavior that countered culturally accepted gender
stereotypes.
Given that Okimoto and Brescoll (2010) obtained evidence
of moral outrage in response to an intentional violation of a
prescriptive stereotype, it is reasonable to expect that people
might also experience moral outrage in response to voluntarily
childfree women and men because having an interest in
children is a social prescription. Indeed, Thompson (1974)
reviewed not only the psychological literature, but also the
sociological and demographic literatures, and she concluded
that, in the United States, if not around the world, having
children is a moral imperative. If, as Thompson suggested,
parenthood is a moral imperative, then voluntarily choosing
not to accept this responsibility should evoke moral outrage
among perceivers. Furthermore, according to the model of
retributive justice (Darley and Pittman 2003), as well as find-
ings by Okimoto and Brescoll (2010), this moral outrage
should help account for any unfavorable evaluations of vol-
untarily childfree targets. Such findings would perhaps ex-
plain why perceptions of voluntarily childfree women and
men have changed so little over time and despite the increas-
ing typicality of their parenthood decision in the United States.
The present investigation uniquely attempts to provide empir-
ical support of Thompsons parenthood-as-moral-imperative
hypothesis.
The Present Study
In the present research, participants were randomly assigned
to evaluate a male or female married target who had chosen to
have two children or no children. Participants then provided
their perceptions of the targets psychological fulfillment and
adjustment using items adapted from previous studies of
childfree individuals. Participants also reported any feelings
of moral outrage they had in reaction to the target.
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
Based on the logic of backlash theory (Rudman and
Fairchild 2004), Hypothesis 1 predicts that voluntarily
childfree targets will be perceived as significantly less psycho-
logically fulfilled than targets who have two children; that is,
they will experience backlash for having violated a cultural
prescription. Hypothesis 2 is based on the logic of the model
of retributive justice (Darley and Pittman 2003) and indicates
a predicted main effect of target parenthood status on moral
outrage; that is, participants should report significantly greater
moral outrage in response to voluntarily childfree targets than
in response to targets with children. Finally, consistent with
Okimoto and Brescoll (2010), moral outrage should serve as a
mechanism through which childfree targets are penalized.
Thus, Hypothesis 3 predicts that moral outrage will mediate
the relationship between targets parenthood status and per-
ceptions of psychological fulfillment.
Given that interest in children is somewhat more intensely
prescribed for women than for men (Prentice and Carranza
2002), it is possible that moral outrage and penalization will
be greater for voluntarily childfree women than for voluntarily
childfree men. However, recall that Prentice and Carranza
(2002) found that interest in children was rated as highly de-
sirable for both genders and for people in general, with aver-
age ratings well above the scale midpoint. Thus, targets gen-
der was included for exploratory purposes as a potential mod-
erator of the predicted main effects of targets parenthood
status on both psychological fulfillment and moral outrage.
Despite its exploratory nature, the inclusion of targets gender
as a variable in the present research was especially important
given that some of the previous studies of the stigmatization of
childfree people (Mueller and Yoder 1997) focused exclusive-
ly on female targets, thereby leaving a significant gap in our
knowledge of gender-role expectations regarding parenthood.
Method
Participants and Design
Participants were 204 introductory psychology students at a
large U.S. Midwestern university. They were recruited via the
departmental online participant management system for a
study advertised as examining peoples ability to make accu-
rate predictions of the future. Participants were compensated
with credit toward their course research requirement. Data
from seven participants were excluded because those partici-
pants incorrectly responded to a manipulation check regarding
targets parenthood status. The remaining participants includ-
ed 147 women, 49 men, and one participant who did not
report his or her gender. Upon examination by cell, there were
too few men to provide sufficient power to analyze participant
gender as a predictor variable. However, excluding men from
the analyses did not change the results. Participants average
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
age was 20.61 years (SD = 4.10 years). Most of the partici-
pants self-identified as White (n = 133), 20 as Black, 13 as
Asian, 9 as Hispanic or Latino, 7 as Middle Eastern, 11 as
other or multiracial, and 4 did not report their race or ethnicity.
The experiment involved a 2 (target gender: male vs. fe-
male) 2 (target parenthood status: 0 vs. 2 children)
between-subjects design. Thus, participants were randomly
assigned to read about one of four targets who varied only in
terms of their gender and parenthood status.
Procedure and Measures
Participants completed the experiment individually in a labo-
ratory. After obtaining their informed consent, an experiment-
er led participants to believe that they were taking part in a
study about peoples sense of intuition and how accurately
they can predict the future. Participants first completed a filler
task in which the experimenter recorded their guesses regard-
ing ten coin tosses. The next task (the task of interest to my
study) involved making predictions about the life of a gradu-
ate of the participants own university. The experimenter led
participants to believe that the target had been part of a longi-
tudinal alumni survey since his/her graduation over 10 years
ago, providing data on several occasions to the schools alum-
ni office. Thus, the experimenter ostensibly could compare
participants predictions with actual data from the (in reality,
fictitious) student. The purpose of this cover story was to
enhance participants engagement in the study, given that the
task involved evaluating a person whom participants would
not meet. Moreover, leading participants to believe that data
were collected from their fictitious peer across multiple time
points reinforced the perception that the childfree targets par-
enthood status was not temporary. This point is important
given some previous findings suggesting reduced backlash
when the targets childfree status was assumed to be short-
term (Koropeckyj-Cox et al. 2007), as well as previous qual-
itative reports of expectations that voluntarily childfree targets
will later change their minds (Mueller and Yoder 1999).
Participants next read a paragraph about the alleged former
student. The paragraph included the experimental manipula-
tions of target gender (male vs. female) and target parenthood
status (0 vs. 2 children). Participants were randomly assigned
to read one of four versions of this description of the target:
James (Jennifer) lives in Columbus, Ohio. He (She)
graduated from [name of university] with a degree in
biology in December 2002. After graduating, he (she)
worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep to pay back some
student loans, but after a couple of years he (she) decid-
ed that career wasnt a good fit and investigated other
options. In summer 2003, James (Jennifer) married his
(her) college girlfriend (boyfriend). They decided to
397
have no (two) children and when surveyed in 2005 they
had stuck with this decision.
Consistent with the cover story, participants then answered
questions supposedly designed to determine how accurately
they could predict the targets responses from their most recent
alumni survey. These questions pertained to perceptions of the
targets psychological fulfillment or adjustment. Specifically,
participants responded to seven items, using 7-point Likert-
type scales from 1 (extremely unlikely) to 7 (extremely likely),
to indicate the likelihood that the target has the potential to be
a good parent, is satisfied in their marital relationship, has a
partner who is satisfied in their relationship, is satisfied with
their decision regarding children, has a partner who is satisfied
with their decision regarding children, has a relationship likely
to end in divorce (reverse-scored), and is satisfied with their
life overall. These items were adapted from previous research
examining perceptions of targets as a function of their parent-
hood status (Jamison et al. 1979; Shields and Cooper 1983).
Items were scored such that higher scores indicated greater
perceived psychological fulfillment; given their internal con-
sistency ( = .82) as well as factor analytic evidence indicating
they formed a unitary construct, the items were averaged to
create a perceived psychological fulfillment scale (M = 5.29,
SD = .89).
Participants next completed five items (embedded among
filler positive affect items to disguise the study purpose)
assessing their moral outrage toward the target; items were
randomized for each participant. Specifically, participants in-
dicated to what extent the target made them feel disapproval,
angry, outraged, annoyed, and disgusted using 5-point scales
from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). These items were adapted
from research examining moral outrage toward power-
seeking women (Okimoto and Brescoll 2010). Given their
acceptable reliability ( = .76) and results of a principal com-
ponents analysis, these items were averaged to create a moral
outrage scale (M = 1.27, SD = .49).
Finally, participants completed demographic items and ma-
nipulation checks to ensure they attended to the targets gen-
der and the targets parenthood status. Upon participants
completion of all experimental tasks, the experimenter
awarded their research credit and debriefed participants using
a funnel procedure with increasingly targeted probes to check
for suspicion. No participant independently expressed doubt
about the credibility of the alumni survey cover story or could
fully articulate the true purpose of the research.
Results
Recall that Hypothesis 1 predicted that women would view
adults who have chosen not to become parents as less psycho-
logically fulfilled or more poorly adjusted than those who
398
have chosen to be parents. Participants perceived target ful-
fillment scores were submitted to a two-way between-subjects
analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results revealed a main effect
of targets parenthood status, such that childfree targets
(M = 5.00, SD = .84) were perceived to be significantly less
psychologically fulfilled than targets with two children
(M = 5.62, SD = .83), F(1, 193) = 27.00, p < .001 , d = .74. No
other results approached significance (Fs < 1). Thus, findings
support Hypothesis 1.
If having children is a moral imperative, as Thompson
(1974) suggested, then people who choose not to have chil-
dren should elicit greater moral outrage than people who ac-
cept this moral responsibility (Hypothesis 2). Analyses indeed
revealed the expected main effect of target parenthood status,
thereby supporting this hypothesis. Participants reported sig-
nificantly greater moral outrage toward targets who had cho-
sen to have no children (M = 1.37, SD = .57) than toward tar-
gets who had chosen to have two children (M = 1.16,
SD = .33), F(1, 193) = 10.11, p < .01, d = .45. No other effects
approached significance (Fs < 1).
Although findings thus far are consistent with the notion of
parenthood as a moral imperative, a stronger test of the im-
portance of moral outrage as an explanatory mechanism for
the less favorable evaluation of voluntarily childfree people
would be to determine whether it helps account for the ob-
served direct effect of target parenthood status on perceived
fulfillment. Thus, data were submitted to Hayes (2013)
PROCESS mediation analysis, using a bootstrapping proce-
dure to estimate 95% confidence intervals based on 10,000
samples to determine whether indirect effects likely differ
from zero in the overall population. Confidence intervals that
contain zero indicate that the indirect effect does not signifi-
cantly differ from zero and therefore does not mediate the
relationship.
As shown in Fig. 1, moral outrage was implicated as a
significant mediator. The indirect effect of parenthood status
through moral outrage was .16 (SEboot = .06, 95% CI [.06,
.31]), thereby providing support for Hypothesis 3. Together,
targets parenthood status and participants moral outrage
Fig. 1 Mediation model
illustrating direct and indirect
effects of target parenthood status
on perceived psychological
fulfillment. All relationships are
statistically significant at p < .01
-.21
Target Parenthood Status
(0 = no children,
1 = two children)
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
accounted for approximately 28.81% of the variance in tar-
gets perceived fulfillment. In short, the previously observed
finding that people who choose not to have children are per-
ceived as psychologically unfulfilled is partially explained by
perceivers moral outrage in reaction to them.
Discussion
Relative to targets who had chosen to have two children, vol-
untarily childfree women and men were penalized by per-
ceivers in the present research. Specifically, they were per-
ceived as leading less fulfilling lives than do people who
had chosen to have children. Moreover, their decision to forgo
parenthood, arguably individuals most personal choice,
evoked moral outrageanger, disgust, and disapproval.
Moral outrage in turn served as a mechanism by which tar-
gets parenthood status affected their perceived psychological
fulfillment.
Findings from this research provide the first empirical sup-
port for the hypothesis of parenthood as a moral imperative.
As Thompson (1974, p. 96) argued, there exists within the
United States a cultural expectation that is held so strongly
and so widely that it is an imperative: BOne shouldor
musthave children.^ She further suggested that the impera-
tive is so well internalized that there are almost certainly social
sanctions for those who violate the norm. In other words, not
having children is seen not only as atypical but also as wrong.
Backlash theory (Rudman and Fairchild 2004) provides a
theoretical framework with which social sanctions for volun-
tarily childfree people can be better understood. Specifically,
given cultural stereotypes that prescribe an interest in children
for both women and (to a somewhat lesser extent) men
(Prentice and Carranza 2002), perceivers feel justified in neg-
atively evaluating those who violate their expected parental
roles by choosing not to have children. Moreover, the model
of retributive justice suggests that when someone intentionally
commits a wrongdoing, the resulting response is moral out-
rage and a motive is to punish (Darley and Pittman 2003). The
Moral Outrage
-.76
Perceived Fulfillment
.46
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
fact that voluntarily childfree targets in the present research
evoked moral outrage and figurative punishment in the form
of a predicted unhappy life is consistent with research on
retributive justice as well as the hypothesis of parenthood as
a moral imperative.
It is noteworthy that voluntarily childfree male and female
targets were stigmatized equally in the present research.
Although much of the extant literature on this subject has
focused on women (e.g., Mueller and Yoder 1997, 1999),
studies that have included male targets have not yielded dra-
matic differences in how they are perceived. For example,
Jamison et al. (1979) found that participants ascribed similar
traits (e.g., selfish, poorly adjusted) to voluntarily childfree
men and women and that, if anything, men were evaluated
somewhat more negatively than were women. Indeed, inves-
tigations of stereotypic gender prescriptions suggest that both
women and men are prescribed to be interested in children,
although this prescription is somewhat more relaxed for men
(Prentice and Carranza 2002). Again, these findings point to-
ward parenthood as an imperative rather than as typical choice
and speak to the common socialization of boys and girls in the
United States to aspire to become parents.
My findings extend previous research on the stigmatization
of voluntarily childfree people by identifying an important
mechanism through which stigmatization occurs. Although
previous studies (e.g., Kopper and Smith 2001) examined
some negative affective reactions as a function of parenthood
decisions, none focused specifically on moral outrage and
none tested for its potential mediating role. The present re-
search thus takes us beyond documenting and describing this
form of social stigma and helps clarify why it occurs.
Limitations and Future Research Directions
The present study is, of course, not without limitations.
Participants evaluated one individual who was presented only
via a paragraph-long description. Despite obtaining moderate-
ly strong effect sizes in the present study, mean levels of moral
outrage were small overall. One could therefore criticize this
Bpaper person^ approach, but it is noteworthy that findings
corroborated those of previous studies that varied widely in
their methods, and they are consistent with the self-reported
experiences of actual individuals (Berdahl and Moon 2013;
Mueller and Yoder 1999). Arguably, moral outrage in re-
sponse to real and/or known targets may have been even stron-
ger than those observed herein. The major advantage of the
present studys methodology is that participants could be ran-
domly assigned to read identical descriptions of people that
varied only in terms of the targets gender and parenthood
status (i.e., the variables of interest). Additionally, leading par-
ticipants to believe they were predicting the life experiences of
actual graduates of their university likely enhanced the studys
399
experimental realism. Nonetheless, future research should not
be limited to experiments with fictitious targets.
Given the study comprised a single experiment, future re-
search is needed to ensure findings are not limited to this
sample or methodology. Indeed, reflective of the population
from which it was obtained, the present sample comprised
primarily White women in their early 20s. Although previous
research (e.g., Jamison et al. 1979; Shields and Cooper 1983)
has not yielded many participant gender differences in percep-
tions of voluntarily childfree targets, a more diverse sample
would be informative, particularly of potential gender differ-
ences in the strength of perceived moral obligation to become
a parent for male versus female targets. That said, Prentice and
Carranzas (2002) examination of gender stereotype prescrip-
tions and proscriptions noted significant participant gender
target gender interactions for only 4 of the 100 traits they
examined across two studies: anxious, extroverted, playful,
and controlling. These traits do not seem to be particularly
relevant for evaluating parents versus non-parents.
Furthermore, participant gender effects are noticeably absent
in U.S. studies of backlash toward targets who deviate from
prescribed gender roles (Rudman and Fairchild 2004;
Rudman and Glick 1999, 2001). Collectively, these studies
point toward probable consistency in the ways women and
men might view voluntarily childfree people. Perhaps a more
fruitful path for discovering meaningful individual differences
in perceptions of people who are voluntarily childfree would
involve an examination of participants values. For example,
might individual differences in endorsement of values such as
tradition and self-direction (Schwartz et al. 2012) predict the
degree of backlash and moral outrage toward voluntarily
childfree people?
The present findings open the door for further research to
specify additional antecedents and consequences of biases
against those who are voluntarily childfree. For example, mor-
al outrage is often associated with denial of humanity (Haslam
and Loughnan 2014); perhaps having children is seen as so
fundamentally part of human nature that those who opt out are
thought to be somehow not quite human. Such a perception
almost certainly would have implications not only for how
childfree people are evaluated, but also for how they are treat-
ed. Indeed, much of the extant literature on the stigmatization
of voluntarily childfree women and men has focused on ste-
reotypes and attitudes (e.g., Jamison et al. 1979; Shields and
Cooper 1983); few studies have obtained evidence of outright
discrimination toward those individuals. One exception is a
study by Berdahl and Moon (2013), who found, in a sample of
U.S. working adults, that women without children reported
more workplace harassment than did women who were
mothers. More research is needed to identify other forms of
mistreatment as well as psychological consequences for those
who violate parenthood norms. For example, does the societal
pressure on childfree women and men have negative
400
implications for health and well-being? There is much to learn
about this relatively unexamined, but growing, demographic.
Given that parenthood is a social and moral prescription,
not merely a typical choice, findings observed over the past
three decades in the United States regarding the stigmatization
of voluntarily childfree people seem unlikely to change. Any
further downturn in the U.S. birthrate may affect the perceived
typicality of voluntary childlessness but not likely the per-
ceived moral obligation of parenthood. Future research might
manipulate perceived threats, such as that of overpopulation,
to determine the boundaries of this very robust bias.
Practice Implications
Practically speaking, the present findings have some troubling
potential implications for how people transition to parenthood.
For example, the present findings, obtained with college stu-
dents in the Midwestern United States, suggest that many
young people view children as a necessary ingredient for ful-
filling lives. Thus, they may feel tremendous pressure to have
children, not only from others as this literature suggests
(Mueller and Yoder 1999), but also internally. Ironically, these
perceptions have absolutely no basis in reality. Meta-analyses
reveal that parents report significantly less marital satisfaction
than do non-parents, and as their number of children increases,
marital satisfaction decreases (Twenge et al. 2003). These
findings are thought to result from the lack of freedom and
independence that parenthood brings, as well as role conflicts
and strain. In other words, the transition to parenthood is not
the recipe for happiness it is thought to be, and the moral
imperative to become parents might push women and men
into making a choice that leads to relationship conflict.
The moral imperative to have children may also have prac-
tical implications for young peoples academic success. In one
study, U.S. female college students who were primed with
parenthood imagery (e.g., a crib) exhibited lower implicit
identification with academics compared with those who were
primed with college education imagery (e.g., cap and gown;
Devos et al. 2007). Such findings suggest that parenthood and
education are, at least implicitly, perceived to be a zero-sum
game, with potentially serious implications for students like-
lihood of success.
Conclusions
The present research provides the first known empirical evi-
dence that parenthood is viewed by some as a moral impera-
tive, consistent with Thompsons (1974) assertion. Despite the
fact that women and men, with increasing frequency in the
U.S., are delaying the parenthood decision or are opting out of
parenthood entirely (Livingston and Cohn 2010; Martin et al.
2015), the cultural prescription to have children persists. As
with any injunctive norm, violators are subjected to social
Sex Roles (2017) 76:393401
backlash; in this case, moral outrage and expectations of poor
psychological fulfillment and adjustment. The present re-
search merely scratches the surface in terms of describing
the continued stigmatization of voluntarily childfree women
and men, who are, by many personal accounts, often ostra-
cized and led to believe they are selfish and defective (Sandler
and Witteman 2013). Indeed, some writers have blamed vol-
untarily childfree people for the destruction of the U.S. econ-
omy and culture (Last 2013). The present research helps shine
a light on why such stigmatization of voluntarily childfree
people occurs and just how serious its implications are.
Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Megan Dumka,
Scott Hall, Haley Kolp, Kassi Rains, Stacy Slavings, Kelsey Stephens,
Jessica Thomas, and Logan Wikoff for their assistance with data
collection.
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