Preferences for sex of children: a multivariate analysis

Fertility management in Taiwanese and African-American women

This article describes the fertility management experiences of two groups of women that are of cultures close to but different from dominant, mainstream American culture. A discussion of fertility management necessarily must occur within the context of such issues as the values and norms regarding sexual behavior, choice of partners, and childbearing patterns, and the support and resources offered by the social environment.

Gender of children and contraceptive use

In 1984, half of married/cohabiting Canadian women aged 18-49 years were using contraception, with sterilisation being the most prevalent method. This study, using data from the 1984 Canadian Fertility Survey of 5315 women aged 18-49 years, found that there was a preference for sons. Women with two sons are more likely to use contraception than those who have had two daughters; the gender of children may have a weak effect on contraceptive behaviour of Canadian couples at higher parities. Sociocultural factors (e.g. education, religion, religiosity) were also found to influence contraceptive behaviour.

Sex ratio and factors influencing family size in a human population from Spain

Six hundred and eight students from the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Valencia (Spain) provided information about secondary sex ratio and family size of the parental, present, and projected generation. The average number of children was 3.59, 3.05, and 2.10 and the secondary sex ratio was 113.3, 101.2, and 98.6 for the parental, present, and projected generation respectively. Combination of sexes of the first two children had a significant effect in the parental and the present generations. There was no consistent association between sexes of successive and sexes of nonsuccessive children within families. The most preferred combination of sexes in the projected generation was one male-one female, and male-female was the most preferred permutation. Strong preferences for the firstborn to be male and for an alternation of sexes were also indicated.

Preference for male children and contraceptive use in Taiwan

Taiwan has an active family-planning program. Yet the preference for sons is deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture and may discourage women from limiting their family size if they feel they have too few sons. In this study, research problems concerned the relationships between women's stated preferences for the sex of their children, their perceptions of their in-laws' preferences for the number and sex of their children, and their use of birth control and choice of birth control methods. It was found that few women verbalized a preference for the sex of children, but the number of boys already in the family was related to the reliability of contraceptive method used later and to the willingness to consider abortion if pregnancy occurred. The desired number and occurrence of additional children related to women's perceptions of their in-laws' preferences for boys. The perception of in-laws' preferences for girls either related negatively or was not significant.