研究：智商越高的女人越不愿要小孩

伦敦经济学院的一位研究人员发现，女人智商每高出常人15分，想要孩子的冲动就减少25%，也就是说，越聪明的女人越不想生孩子。这是他对英国国家儿童发展调查的数据分析后得出的结论，若把经济条件和教育水平也考虑进去的话，结果保持不变。

英美两国中聪明而无子的女性为数不少，比如BBC主播凯特•汉博、女星海伦•米伦，以及美国的奥普拉、卡梅伦•迪亚兹以及伊娃•门德斯等。BBC主播凯特•汉博自称没有“当母亲的基因，并在14岁时就打定主意不生孩子”。而美国女星伊娃•门德斯则表示她极其看重自己的生活方式，无法与孩子共享。

英国国家统计局的数据表明，上世纪九十年代以来不生孩子的女性所占比例翻了一番， 45岁女性中有五分之一都没有孩子，其中有学位的女性不生孩子的比例高达43%。另外，约克大学的一项社会研究显示，孩子能带来欢乐的想法并不真实，这也是很多聪明女性拒绝当母亲的原因之一。

Historian Lucy Worsley caused a furore when she remarked last year that she had been 'educated out of the natural reproductive function'.

Now it seems she might have had a point, after a new study has revealed a clear correlation between intelligence and childlessness - with cleverer women more likely to choose not to have a family.

The study, which was conducted by Satoshi Kanazawa, a researcher at the London School of Economics, found that a woman's urge to have children decreases by a quarter for every 15 extra IQ points.

When Kanazawa, who used data from the UK's National Child Development Study, added controls for economics and education, the results remained the same - the more intelligent the woman, the less likely she was to have children.

Worsley isn't the UK's only famously clever childless woman, with others including BBC presenter Kate Humble and actress Helen Mirren.

In the USA, Oprah Winfrey, Cameron Diaz and Eva Mendes are among the famous names who have said they'll never become mothers, with Diaz adding: 'I have the life I have because I don't have children.'

Mendes too has said that she values her lifestyle too much to share it with children. 'I don't want kids,' she said. 'I love sleep and I worry about everything.'

Humble, meanwhile, told the Times that she just 'doesn't have a maternal gene' and resolved not to have children at the age of 14.

'People are very judgmental,' she added. 'It's as if I made a selfish decision not to have children, but I never, ever, wanted them.'

Humble and Mendes certainly aren't alone, with figures released by the Office of National Statistics revealing that the proportion of women without children has almost doubled since the 1990s.

One in five 45-year-olds is childless, while among those with degrees, the figure rises to 43 percent, suggesting that Kanazawa's findings are sound.

A social study, conducted by social scientist Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee of the University of York, revealed that the notion that happiness comes from having children is illusory and offers yet another clue to why so many clever women are rejecting motherhood.

'Parents spend much of their time attending to the very core processes of childcare: problems at school, cooking, laundry,' said Powdthavee in an interview with the Times.

'It's these small but negative experiences that are more likely to impact on our day-to-day levels of happiness and life satisfaction.'