Most couples decide not to have children after just one conversation

Many couples agree not to have children after only one discussion, and sometimes none at all, a new survey has revealed.

Edina Kurdi, of Middlesex University, said that 40 percent of the childless women she surveyed for a study had either not talked about having children, or had only discussed this once early in their relationship.

Kurdi carried out an online survey which included responses from 75 UK women aged 35 and above who were childless. She interviewed nine of them face-to-face.

The survey asked about discussions the woman had had with her current partner about not having children. She found that 23 of the 63 who responded to the question had decided not to have children after one conversation. Three others mentioned they had not talked about the issue at all.

Her research project also studied the reasons why couples remained childless and attitudes of others towards a childless couple.

"Very little attention has been paid to the negotiations within romantic relations about not having a family, even though developed countries are facing a general decline in fertility combined with an accelerated rate of childlessness," she said.