The process through which men and women construct procreative identities: A narrative approach

The current study was guided by narrative and feminist inquiry and focuses on the procreative consciousness and the construction of a procreative identity in 14 unmarried, child-free graduate students. Analysis of respondent and narrative interviews revealed five themes in the narrative data, which were used to hypothesize how men and women form their procreative identities, how their stories have been altered through time, and how they think others view their procreative decisions. Findings support five different pathways to the informant’s current procreative consciousness. Informants also perceived an existing traditional stereotype toward the childfree lifestyle.