IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v2y2000i1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Preferences for Children in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Karsten Hank

    (Universität zu Köln)

  • Hans-Peter Kohler

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

Gender preferences may have substantial implications for a couple’s fertility behavior. However, there is only limited empirical research investigating this subject in modern Western societies. In this paper, data from the Fertility and Family Surveys are used to compare 17 European countries with respect to their gender preferences for children. Despite substantial regional heterogeneity across Europe, our results show a strong tendency towards a preference for a mixed sex composition (if there is any preference at all). However, we found some unexpected indication for a girl preference in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Portugal. Because socioeconomic conditions and family policies, which are important factors in explaining different fertility levels, are not related to a specific gender of children, we argue that cultural factors are of major importance for different gender preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:2:y:2000:i:1
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2000.2.1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol2/1/2-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2000.2.1?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. 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.
    3. Hilke Brockmann, 1999. "Girls preferred? Changing patterns of gender preferences in the two German states," MPIDR Working Papers WP-1999-010, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. repec:cai:popine:popu_p1998_53n5_1041 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. 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.
    6. repec:cai:popine:popu_p1996_51n2_0464 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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, 2002. "Gender preferences for children revisited: new evidence from Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-017, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Natalie Nitsche & Anna Matysiak & Jan Bavel & Daniele Vignoli, 2018. "Partners’ Educational Pairings and Fertility Across Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1195-1232, August.
    5. Zuzanna Brzozowska & Eva Beaujouan & Kryštof Zeman, 2022. "Is Two Still Best? Change in Parity-Specific Fertility Across Education in Low-Fertility Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(5), pages 2085-2114, October.
    6. Mussa, Richard, 2009. "Impact of fertility on objective and subjective poverty in Malawi," MPRA Paper 16089, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Jolene Tan, 2023. "Perceptions towards pronatalist policies in Singapore," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 1-27, September.
    8. Monika Mynarska & Zuzanna Brzozowska, 2022. "Things to Gain, Things to Lose: Perceived Costs and Benefits of Children and Intention to Remain Childless in Poland," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 160-171.
    9. Narayan Das, 1987. "Sex preference and fertility behavior: A study of recent Indian data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(4), pages 517-530, November.
    10. 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.
    11. Richard Williams & Elizabeth Thomson, 1985. "Can spouses be trusted? A look at husband/wife proxy reports," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 22(1), pages 115-123, February.
    12. Hirvonen, Lalaina, 2009. "The Effect of Children on Earnings Using Exogenous Variation in Family Size: Swedish Evidence," Working Paper Series 2/2009, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    13. Radheshyam Bairagi, 1987. "A comment on fred arnold’s “measuring the effect of sex preference on fertility”," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(1), pages 137-138, February.
    14. Sági, Judit & Lentner, Csaba, 2020. "A magyar népességpolitikai intézkedések tényezői és várható hatásai [Factors and expected outcomes of pro-birth policy interventions]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 289-308.
    15. Pierluigi Conzo & Giulia Fuochi & Letizia Mencarini, 2017. "Fertility and Life Satisfaction in Rural Ethiopia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(4), pages 1331-1351, August.
    16. Heather M. Rackin & Christina M. Gibson‐Davis, 2022. "Familial Deaths and First Birth," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(4), pages 1027-1059, December.
    17. Kathy Widmer & Gary McClelland & Caral Nickerson, 1981. "Determining the impact of sex preferences on fertility: A demonstration study," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(1), pages 27-37, February.
    18. Arindam Nandi & Sumit Mazumdar & Jere R. Behrman, 2018. "The effect of natural disaster on fertility, birth spacing, and child sex ratio: evidence from a major earthquake in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 267-293, January.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    fertility; gender preferences; cross-national research;
    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:demres:v:2:y:2000:i:1. 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: Editorial Office (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.