Parents Have Smaller Support Networks but More Close-Knit Relationships Than Childfree and Other Non-Parent Adults

Abstract

Declining fertility rates and growing numbers of adults forgoing parenthood highlight the need to understand how social integration differs across reproductive status groups. Yet most research treats non-parents as a homogeneous group, overlooking differences among the childfree, childless, undecided, ambivalent and not-yet-parents. Using an egocentric network approach, we examined structural and quality-related characteristics of support networks across six reproductive status groups ( N = 797; aged 18–86 years; 62% based in the United Kingdom/United States). Parents had smaller support networks but more close-knit relationships, suggesting a quality-quantity trade-off. Childfree adults showed relatively stable network sizes across age, while not-yet-parents and undecided participants’ networks more closely resembled parents. Age-related patterns hint at midlife as a dynamic period of network change. Our findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between non-parent groups, with implications for social ageing, wellbeing and support interventions, while discrepancies with prior studies raise questions about possible methodological artefacts in network elicitation.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2026 · DOI ↗