To Have Kids or Not: Which Decision Do Americans Regret More?

Used in 4 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Family size Decision · action side

   Statistic

   14% of people with children agreed 'I wish I had had fewer children' (10% of all US adults)

   “"Just 14% of people with children agreed with the statement 'I wish I had had fewer children' (which equals 10% of all adults). The vast majority of people want to have children and more than a third wish they had more."”

   Calculation notes

   Data from the second wave of the US Adult Sexual Behaviors and Attitudes Study, fielded March 2021 (n=1,518). The 14% is among parents specifically. We use 0.14 as the regret_rate for the action side (having had too many).
   

   Source date: 2021-12-08 · Accessed: 2026-04-25

2. [2] Family size Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   37% of US adults wish they had more children than they currently have (including 24% who are parents and want more, plus 13% who are childless and want children)

   “"34% have children and are happy with the number they have ... Another third—the largest group—wish they had more (37%), whether currently parents or not."”

   Calculation notes

   The IFS source reports a single wish-for-more figure of 37%, combining parents who want more (24%) and childless adults who want children (13%, inferred as 37 minus 24). It is the largest fertility-preference group. We use 0.37 as the regret_rate for the inaction side.
   

   Source date: 2021-12-08 · Accessed: 2026-04-25

3. [3] One more child vs stopping Decision · action side

   Statistic

   14% of people with children agreed 'I wish I had had fewer children' (equal to 10% of all adults); this is cumulative family-size regret across all parities, not regret about one specific additional child

   “"Just 14% of people with children (10% of all adults) agreed with the statement [that they wish they had had fewer children]."”

   Calculation notes

   Institute for Family Studies analysis of the US Adult Sexual Behaviors and Attitudes Study (wave 2, March 2021, n=1,518 US adults, nationally representative). The action-side regret rate for this entry (0.14) is the directly published figure: 14% of people with children agreed "I wish I had had fewer children." This is the broadest available measure of parental child-regret in the US, and the regret_display labels it honestly as cumulative family-size regret — it captures parents who wish any child had not been born, spanning parents at all parities, and is NOT restricted to regret about a marginal one-more addition. No published US survey isolates regret about having one additional child beyond the current family size, so the entry uses the published 14% with a matching construct label rather than fabricating a smaller marginal-child number. (A prior version of this entry used an unpublished 8% downward adjustment fused with a qualitative paper to fit the "one more?" framing; that adjustment was not in any source and has been removed.) D3 score: 3 (real nationally representative survey, directly published figure; construct is family-size regret, broader than the entry's strict marginal-child framing — labeled as such).
   

   Source date: 2021-12-08 · Accessed: 2026-06-30

4. [4] One more child vs stopping Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   37% of US adults — the single largest group — wish they had more children than they currently have, whether currently parents or not; 24% already have children but still want more and 13% have no children but still hope to

   “"A third (34%) have children and are happy with the number they have and another third—the largest group—wish they had more (37%), whether currently parents or not."”

   Calculation notes

   Institute for Family Studies analysis of the US Adult Sexual Behaviors and Attitudes Study (wave 2, March 2021, n=1,518 US adults, nationally representative). The verbatim excerpt identifies the satisfied group as 34% and the wish-for-more group as 37% ("whether currently parents or not"). The inaction-side rate for this entry is the directly published 0.37 wish-for-more figure, NOT the 0.34 that labels the satisfied-with-current-count group (a prior version of this entry mistakenly borrowed the 34% number, an inversion that has been corrected). The 37% is composed of ~24% who already have children and still want more and ~13% who have no children but still hope to — so it bundles parents and never-parents. The regret_display labels this honestly as an aspiration measure that is NOT a retrospective "I regret stopping" instrument: it captures a current wish-for-more preference, and a substantial share of the group (the ~13% never-parents) never made any stopping decision at all. D3 score: 3 (real nationally representative survey, directly published figure; construct is wish-for-more aspiration, broader than and not identical to regret about voluntarily stopping — labeled as such).
   

   Source date: 2021-12-08 · Accessed: 2026-06-30