The article focuses on findings that were replicated across several countries and considers their relevance for future older adults. Key findings are that (a) childlessness makes more of a difference in men's than in women's lives, (b) never-married women are a childless category with particularly favorable characteristics, and (c) childless…

Examined whether women's growing economic independence, resulting from better education, is major factor in rise in delayed marriage and motherhood. New panel data from (former) Federal Republic of Germany showed that women's increasing educational attainment could explain part of changes in process of family formation. Better educated women…

This article focuses on the ways in which patterns of marriage and fertility shape older people's involvement in community groups and their support networks. The data are from Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Findings show that childless older adults, regardless of…