Plummeting birth rates around the world could lead to a hyper liberal future, scientists have found.
A study, Experimental and cross-cultural evidence that parenthood and parental care motives increase social conservatism, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researched whether parenthood had an influence on social attitudes.
The aim was to understand the origins of divisive social attitudes on issues such as abortion, immigration and sex.
Before now, the impact of parenthood on social and political attitudes has not been widely investigated.
Prior to undertaking the study, researchers hypothesized that people "more invested" in parental care may be more drawn to conservative policies. This is because traditionally, conservative views favor family values, safety and stability.
Researchers found evidence that those who showed a greater desire to be parents were more drawn to these conservative values. On the flip side, researchers also found evidence that those who are already parents were more conservative.
Co-author Nicholas Kerry, a postdoctoral research fellow in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, told Newsweek that these findings contradict the "commonly held belief" that people become more conservative with age, "as a result of experiencing the harsh realities of life."
"This belief is captured by the expression that 'Whoever is not a liberal at 20 has no heart, and whoever is not a conservative at 30 has no brain' (different versions of this have been attributed to various influential figures, including Winston Churchill and Victor Hugo). In fact, when you statistically control for the effects of parenthood, older people are no more socially conservative than younger people," Kerry said.
The researchers believe that in light of the findings, and globally declining birthrates, this could lead to a more liberal future. That's because, if people don't want children or put off having babies, they are less likely to have conservative attitudes.
"Given that birthrates are declining in most of the world-but increasing sharply in some regions-the current findings could have profound implications for the political landscape of the future. Specifically, our findings would suggest that global increases in childlessness could potentially contribute to a process of liberalization on social
issues," the study concluded.
For the last few decades, the world has seen rapidly declining birth rates.
In 2020, the U.S. had a birth rate of 55.8 births per 1,000 women. This is a 20 percent decline compared to the rate in 2007, which was 69.3.
Scientists believe this is down to increased opportunities for women in education and the workforce, and the increased cost of living and raising children.
Kerry said it is difficult to say what the political landscape will look like in 50 years, and whether less people having children will have a direct impact on this.
"But if it is the case that parenthood contributes to social conservatism, this might contribute to the liberalization of countries where childlessness is increasing or where people are putting off parenthood until later in life," Kerry said. "However, it's important to remember that there are many other factors contributing to changes in values- parenthood is just one part of the puzzle."
Kerry said in light of the findings, "it's important for people to understand" that political attitudes are "at least partly" the result of the stage of someone's life.
"For example, political ideologies reflect the type of society that people want to have around them and if your main motivation is to raise children, that is going to look different from the ideal type of society that a single person wants," Kerry said.
"I think that understanding this can potentially help people to understand that their own views might change sometimes, too, and that when we change our views, this might be the result of changes in our priorities, not just because we have had some special insight into the objective truth. So, I hope that findings like this can make people a little more understanding of people who have somewhat differing views from them."
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