Date: 2022
Type: Article
Preferences for a mixed-sex composition of offspring : a multigenerational approach
Population studies, 2022, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 1-18
QUERIN, Federica, Preferences for a mixed-sex composition of offspring : a multigenerational approach, Population studies, 2022, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 1-18
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/74068
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Parents with two boys or two girls are more likely to have a third child than those with a ‘sex mix’. However, little is known on whether these ‘mixed-sex preferences’ extend beyond the nuclear family. This study leverages the random variation in sex at birth to assess whether the sex of nieces and nephews, in combination with own children, matters for fertility choices. Using three-generational data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), I show that extended families (including grandparents, their children, and their grandchildren) are collectively more likely to have three or more grandchildren when lacking sex mix, whether the first two grandchildren are siblings or cousins. I explore the pathways for these offspring sex preferences, finding support for a preference for an uninterrupted line of male descendants. This multigenerational approach also contributes a new estimation strategy that causally estimates the effects of family sizes on outcomes beyond fertility.
Additional information:
Published online: 08 February 2022
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/74068
Full-text via DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2022.2027003
ISSN: 0032-4728; 1477-4747
Publisher: Routledge
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