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Preferences for sex of children: a multivariate analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Vijaya Krishnan
Vijaya Krishnan
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology,University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Summary

This paper, based on 1973–74 Growth of Alberta Family Study data, examines the sex preference for children among women in Edmonton. Discriminant functions are used to examine whether the two groups of women—those who prefer to have sons and those who prefer to have daughters—differ in selected characteristics such as age, birth place, residence in youth, education, religion, number and sex of siblings, traditional female roles, and attitude towards sex predetermination.

The results show some preference for sons, although generally women prefer to have children of both sexes. The variables birth place, number of female siblings of wife, and education of husband are found to discriminate best among the two groups. In general, the results suggest that sex preference among women is more heavily determined by their country of birth and number of male and female siblings. There is some evidence to suggest that preference for sex of children varies between adolescents and older women. The findings suggest that women generally do not favour the idea of sex predetermination.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 367 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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