IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dem/wpaper/wp-2002-017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gender preferences for children revisited: new evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Karsten Hank

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Hans-Peter Kohler

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

Empirical research investigating gender preferences for children and their implications for fertility decisions in advanced industrial societies is relatively scarce. Recent studies on this matter have presented ambiguous evidence regarding the existence as well as the direction such preferences can take. We use data from the most recent German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) to analyse determinants of the preferred sex composition of prospective offspring as well as the influence of the sex of previous children on the respondent´s fertility intentions and their actual behaviour at different parities. We find that the socio-demographic determinants of gender preferences differ when childless respondents are compared with parents, and that boys are preferred as a first child. Although an ultimate sex composition that includes at least one son and one daughter is generally favoured, there is no evidence for a behaviourally relevant gender preference in Germany, when higher parities are considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Karsten Hank & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2002. "Gender preferences for children revisited: new evidence from Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-017, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2002-017
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2002-017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2002-017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2002-017?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Haughton & Dominique Haughton, 1998. "Are simple tests of son preference useful? An evaluation using data from Vietnam," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 11(4), pages 495-516.
    2. repec:cai:popine:popu_p1998_53n5_1041 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Gerald Markle, 1974. "Sex ratio at birth: Values, variance, and some determinants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 11(1), pages 131-142, February.
    4. Karsten Hank & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2000. "Gender Preferences for Children in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(1).
    5. Seidl, Christian, 1995. "The Desire for a Son Is the Father of Many Daughters: A Sex Ratio Paradox," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 185-203, May.
    6. repec:cai:popine:popu_p1996_51n2_0464 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Andrew Mason & Neil Bennett, 1977. "Sex selection with biased technologies and its effect on the population sex ratio," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 14(3), pages 285-296, August.
    8. Rodolfo Bulatao, 1981. "Values and disvalues of children in successive childbearing decisions," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(1), pages 1-25, February.
    9. 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.
    10. Gary McClelland, 1979. "Determining the impact of sex preferences on fertility: A consideration of parity progression ratio, dominance, and stopping rule measures," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 16(3), pages 377-388, August.
    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. Woojin Chung & Monica Das Gupta, 2011. "Factors influencing 'missing girls' in South Korea," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(24), pages 3365-3378.

    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. Karsten Hank & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2000. "Gender Preferences for Children in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(1).
    2. Edith Gray & Ann Evans & Jon Anderson & Rebecca Kippen, 2010. "Using Split-Population Models to Examine Predictors of the Probability and Timing of Parity Progression," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 275-295, August.
    3. Fred Arnold, 1985. "Measuring the effect of sex preference on fertility: The case of Korea," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 22(2), pages 280-288, May.
    4. Gunnar Andersson & Karsten Hank & Andres Vikat, 2006. "Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: lessons from Sweden and Finland," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-019, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. 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.
    6. Valentine Becquet & Nicolás Sacco & Ignacio Pardo, 2022. "Disparities in Gender Preference and Fertility: Southeast Asia and Latin America in a Comparative Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1295-1323, June.
    7. 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.
    8. Rachel Margolis & Mikko Myrskyla, 2016. "Children’s Sex and the Happiness of Parents," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 403-420, August.
    9. Christine Barnet-Verzat & François-Charles Wolff, 2003. "Choix d'éducation et composition par sexe de la fratrie," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 157(1), pages 97-118.
    10. Chai Park, 1983. "Preference for Sons, Family Size, and Sex Ratio: An Empirical Study in Korea," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 20(3), pages 333-352, August.
    11. Gunnar Andersson & Karsten Hank & Andres Vikat, 2007. "Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: Lessons from Sweden and Finland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(6), pages 135-156.
    12. Martin Kolk & Karim Jebari, 2022. "Sex Selection for Daughters: Demographic Consequences of Female-Biased Sex Ratios," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1619-1639, August.
    13. Serhii Maksymovych & William Appleman & Zurab Abramishvili, 2023. "Parental gender preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia: gender bias or differential costs?," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1-48, December.
    14. Wataru Kureishi & Midori Wakabayashi, 2011. "Son preference in Japan," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 873-893, July.
    15. Lefebvre, Pierre, 2006. "Discrimination sexuelle dans les dépenses des ménages : survol de la littérature et évidences empiriques pour le Canada," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 82(1), pages 119-153, mars-juin.
    16. Gunnar Andersson & Karsten Hank & Marit Rønsen & Andres Vikat, 2004. "Gendering the family composition: sex preferences for children and childbearing behavior in the Nordic countries," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-019, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    17. Eleonora Mussino & Vitor Miranda & Li Ma, 2019. "Transition to third birth among immigrant mothers in Sweden: Does having two daughters accelerate the process?," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 81-109, June.
    18. Jr-Tsung Huang, 2008. "The Personal Tax Exemption and Married Women's Birth Spacing in the United States," Public Finance Review, , vol. 36(6), pages 728-747, November.
    19. Yuval Mazar & Uri Zilber, 2019. "Brothers vs. Sisters: The Effect of Siblings' Gender on an Individual's Labor Market Performance," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2019.16, Bank of Israel.
    20. Alessandro Rosina & Laura Cavalli & Maria Rita Testa, 2011. "Couples’ childbearing behaviour in Italy: which of the partners is leading it?," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 9(1), pages 157-178.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; fertility; sex preference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:dem:wpaper:wp-2002-017. 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: Peter Wilhelm (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    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.