IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v51y2014i4p1423-1449.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Daughters Really Cause Divorce? Stress, Pregnancy, and Family Composition

Author

Listed:
  • Amar Hamoudi
  • Jenna Nobles

Abstract

Provocative studies have reported that in the United States, marriages producing firstborn daughters are more likely to divorce than those producing firstborn sons. The findings have been interpreted as contemporary evidence of fathers’ son preference. Our study explores the potential role of another set of dynamics that may drive these patterns: namely, selection into live birth. Epidemiological evidence indicates that the characteristic female survival advantage may begin before birth. If stress accompanying unstable marriages has biological effects on fecundity, a female survival advantage could generate an association between stability and the sex composition of offspring. Combining regression and simulation techniques to analyze real-world data, we ask, How much of the observed association between sex of the firstborn child and risk of divorce could plausibly be accounted for by the joint effects of female survival advantage and reduced fecundity associated with unstable marriage? Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), we find that relationship conflict predicts the sex of children born after conflict was measured; conflict also predicts subsequent divorce. Conservative specification of parameters linking pregnancy characteristics, selection into live birth, and divorce are sufficient to generate a selection-driven association between offspring sex and divorce, which is consequential in magnitude. Our findings illustrate the value of demographic accounting of processes which occur before birth—a period when many outcomes of central interest in the population sciences begin to take shape. Copyright Population Association of America 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Amar Hamoudi & Jenna Nobles, 2014. "Do Daughters Really Cause Divorce? Stress, Pregnancy, and Family Composition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1423-1449, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:4:p:1423-1449
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0305-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-014-0305-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-014-0305-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordon B. Dahl & Enrico Moretti, 2008. "The Demand for Sons," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(4), pages 1085-1120.
    2. Bridget Hiedemann & Jutta M. Joesch & Elaina Rose, 2004. "More Daughters in Child Care? Child Gender and the Use of Nonrelative Child Care Arrangements," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(1), pages 154-168, March.
    3. Elizabeth O. Ananat & Guy Michaels, 2008. "The Effect of Marital Breakup on the Income Distribution of Women with Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 611-629.
    4. Anne Pebley & Charles Westoff, 1982. "Women’s sex preferences in the United States: 1970 to 1975," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 19(2), pages 177-189, May.
    5. Aparna Lhila & Kosali Simon, 2008. "Prenatal health investment decisions: Does the child’s sex matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(4), pages 885-905, November.
    6. Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2012. "Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 190-199.
    7. Florencia Torche, 2011. "The Effect of Maternal Stress on Birth Outcomes: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1473-1491, November.
    8. Diane Lauderdale, 2006. "Birth outcomes for Arabic-named women in California before and after September 11," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 185-201, February.
    9. Monica Das Gupta, 2005. "Explaining Asia's “Missing Women”: A New Look at the Data," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 31(3), pages 529-535, September.
    10. Kelly Bedard & Olivier Deschênes, 2005. "Sex Preferences, Marital Dissolution, and the Economic Status of Women," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
    11. Jay Teachman & Paul Schollaert, 1989. "Gender of children and birth timing," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(3), pages 411-423, August.
    12. Shelly Lundberg, 2005. "Sons, Daughters, and Parental Behaviour," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 340-356, Autumn.
    13. Friedman, Esther M. & Karlamangla, Arun S. & Almeida, David M. & Seeman, Teresa E., 2012. "Social strain and cortisol regulation in midlife in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 607-615.
    14. Shelly Lundberg & Elaina Rose, 2003. "Child gender and the transition to marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 333-349, May.
    15. Shelly Lundberg & Sara McLanahan & Elaina Rose, 2007. "Child gender and father involvement in fragile families," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(1), pages 79-92, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lei, Ziteng & Lundberg, Shelly, 2020. "Vulnerable Boys: Short-term and Long-term Gender Differences in the Impacts of Adolescent Disadvantage," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 424-448.
    2. Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Lundberg, Shelly, 2018. "Gender gaps in the effects of childhood family environment: Do they persist into adulthood?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-62.
    3. Kabátek, Jan & Ribar, David C., 2017. "Teenage Daughters as a Cause of Divorce," IZA Discussion Papers 11046, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mireia Borrell-Porta & Joan Costa-Font & Julia Philipp, 2019. "The ‘mighty girl’ effect: does parenting daughters alter attitudes towards gender norms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 25-46.
    5. Younghwan Song & Jia Gao, 2023. "Do fathers have son preference in the United States? Evidence from paternal subjective well-being," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1083-1117, September.
    6. Amanda Guimbeau & Nidhiya Menon & Aldo Musacchio, 2022. "Short‐ and medium‐run health and literacy impacts of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic in Brazil," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 997-1025, November.
    7. Ahsan, Md Nazmul & Maharaj, Riddhi, 2018. "Parental human capital and child health at birth in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 130-149.
    8. Borrell-Porta, Mireia & Costa-Font, Joan & Philipp, Julia, 2018. "The 'Mighty Girl' Effect: Does Parenting Daughters Alter Attitudes towards Gender Roles?," IZA Discussion Papers 11259, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Takaku, Reo, 2018. "First daughter effects in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 48-59.
    10. Scott Drewianka & Martin E. Meder, 2020. "Simultaneity and selection in financial hardship and divorce," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1245-1265, December.
    11. Fletcher, Jason M., 2018. "The effects of in utero exposure to the 1918 influenza pandemic on family formation," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 59-68.
    12. Tavassoli Nahid, 2021. "The Transition of Son Preference: Evidence from Southeast Asian Countries," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 43-67, June.
    13. Bucheli, Marisa & Vigorito, Andrea, 2019. "Union dissolution and well-being in Uruguay," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 61-71.
    14. Amanda Guimbeau & Nidhiya Menon & Aldo Musacchio, 2020. "The Brazilian Bombshell? The Long-Term Impact of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic the South American Way," NBER Working Papers 26929, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Olivia Bertelli, 2015. "The more the merrier? Adjusting fertility to weather shocks," PSE Working Papers halshs-01226421, HAL.
    16. William Jergins, 2021. "Culture and son preference: Evidence from immigrants to the United States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 168-198, July.
    17. Nahid Tavassoli, 2021. "The Gender-Biased Fertility Behavior: Evidence from Southeast Asian Countries," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 235-261, July.
    18. Olivia Bertelli, 2015. "The more the merrier? Adjusting fertility to weather shocks," Working Papers halshs-01226421, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Younghwan Song & Jia Gao, 2023. "Do fathers have son preference in the United States? Evidence from paternal subjective well-being," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1083-1117, September.
    2. Laura Giuliano, 2007. "The Demand for Sons or the Demand for Fathers? Understanding the Effects of Child Gender on Divorce Rates," Working Papers 0724, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    3. Zurab Abramishvili & William Appleman & Sergii Maksymovych, 2019. "Parental Gender Preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia: Gender Bias or Differential Costs?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp643, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Briggs Depew & Joseph Price, 2018. "Marriage and the economic status of women with children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1049-1061, December.
    5. Kristin Mammen, 2020. "Children’s Gender and Investments from Nonresident Fathers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 332-349, June.
    6. Kelly Bedard & Allison Witman, 2020. "Family structure and the gender gap in ADHD," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1101-1129, December.
    7. Ayllón, Sara & Ferreira-Batista, Natalia N., 2015. "‘Mommy, I miss daddy’. The effect of family structure on children's health in Brazil," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 75-89.
    8. Livvy Mitchell & Isabelle Sin & Maanaima Soa-Lafoai & Colleen Ward, 2022. "Gendered parenting and the intergenerational transmission of gendered stereotypes: Evidence from the Growing Up in New Zealand survey," Working Papers 22_10, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    9. Rossin-Slater, Maya & Wüst, Miriam, 2018. "Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 183-196.
    10. Michał Myck & Monika Oczkowska & Izabela Wowczko, 2024. "Parental gender preferences in Central and Eastern Europe and differential early life disadvantages," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 237-263, January.
    11. Takaku, Reo, 2018. "First daughter effects in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 48-59.
    12. Petra Persson & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2018. "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 1214-1252, April.
    13. Carlson, Kyle, 2015. "Fear itself: The effects of distressing economic news on birth outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 117-132.
    14. Armijos Bravo, Grace & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2021. "Terrorist attacks, Islamophobia and newborns’ health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Lundberg, Shelly, 2018. "Gender gaps in the effects of childhood family environment: Do they persist into adulthood?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-62.
    16. Moffitt, Robert A. & Ribar, David C., 2018. "Child age and gender differences in food security in a low-income U.S. inner-city population," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 23-41.
    17. Andrew Leigh, 2009. "Does child gender affect marital status? Evidence from Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 351-366, April.
    18. Ichino, Andrea & Lindström, Elly-Ann & Viviano, Eliana, 2014. "Hidden consequences of a first-born boy for mothers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 274-278.
    19. Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot & Neta Benshalom-Tirosh & Eyal Sheiner, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge," Working Papers 2009, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    20. Hawash, Ronia, 2019. "Prenatal Stress and Birth Weight: Evidence from the Egyptian Revolution," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 19-42.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:4:p:1423-1449. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.