Introduction

Part of the Family Structure group of Concepts, Childless Individuals discusses the definition and data methodology around specification of Childless Individuals and how they are represented in MCHP data.

Definition and additional background information

A Childless Individual is characterized by the state of not having a child as a dependent, either biological, adopted or stepchildren, irrespective of marital status. This definition applies to adults who are eligible to have children of their own or take legal responsibility for the care of other children (e.g. directly through adoption, foster care or indirectly through entering a marital union with a person who already has children).

Pathways

A Childless Individual may result from:


• A child reaching the age of majority
  
• Death of a single child or all children
  
• In-migration of a Childless Individual

A person is no longer a Childless Individual upon:


• The birth of a child, born to a single parent or to a couple
  
• Entering marriage or common-law union with a Single-Parent, resulting in a Two-Person Household with children

Methods

A Childless Individual can be specified by the following steps:


1. Run the %RegRelation() SAS® macro to find all Child relationships. This is an ‘all time’ search that finds relationships at any time since 1970 up to the most recent Registry file.
   
2. Persons who are adults and not the parent of a dependent child are defined as Childless Individuals.

Cautions / Limitations

The %RegRelation() SAS® macro is primarily focused on birth parents, so later step or adoptive parents may not be found.