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Actual and de facto Childlessness in Old Age: Evidence and Implications from East Java, Indonesia

2005; Wiley; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00051.x

1728-4457

Elisabeth Schröder‐Butterfill, Philip Kreager,

Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences

Population and Development ReviewVolume 31, Issue 1 p. 19-55 Actual and de facto Childlessness in Old Age: Evidence and Implications from East Java, Indonesia Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill, Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, St. Antony's College and Institute of Human Sciences, Oxford University.Search for more papers by this authorPhilip Kreager, Philip Kreager Lecturer in Human Sciences, Somerville College, and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute of Ageing, Oxford University.Search for more papers by this author Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill, Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, St. Antony's College and Institute of Human Sciences, Oxford University.Search for more papers by this authorPhilip Kreager, Philip Kreager Lecturer in Human Sciences, Somerville College, and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute of Ageing, Oxford University.Search for more papers by this author First published: 30 March 2005 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00051.xCitations: 28AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Abstract The demographic study of child supply has long concentrated on the implications of reproductive excess, rather than a lack of children. In recent years attention to population aging has begun to redress this emphasis, but even in aging research the comparative study of childlessness has a low profile. Data collected as part of anthropological and demographic research on aging in Indonesia are used to question current assumptions and to introduce issues and concepts that shed new light on current levels and experiences of childlessness. In our East Javanese study community 25 percent of the elderly have no living children, and another 15 percent have one child. Provincial and national data indicate that these findings are part of a wider pattern, corroborated by historical evidence from Indonesia, Europe, and populations elsewhere in the world. Analysis of the East Javanese data shows that childlessness is a composite category. Demographic childlessness occurs where a combination of proximate determinants (nuptiality, mortality, primary and pathological sterility) leads to no childbearing and child survival. De facto childlessness arises where there is a lack of support from any children. Actual childlessness aggregates demographic and de facto childlessness, net of adoption or remarriage where these provide alternative access to children. Analysis also takes into account the practices of patronage, charity, and kin support to assess the implications of childlessness in old age where state support is lacking. References Abeyasekere, S. 1986. " Health as a nationalist issue in colonial Indonesia,"in D. Chandler and M. Ricklefs, (eds.), Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Indonesia: Essays in Honour of Professor J D Legge. Clayton , Vic. : Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, pp. 1– 13. Ananta, A., E. N. Anwar, and D. Suzenti 1997. " Some economic demographic aspects of 'aging' in Indonesia,"in G. 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