Natives’ and Immigrants’ Gender Preferences for Children in Germany

Abstract

Little research has been conducted yet investigating gender preferences among immigrant parents in Western host countries. We add further empirical evidence to this sparse literature by analyzing pooled micro-census data for the years 2005-2013 from Germany. Next to updating earlier findings on the native population, we assess parental gender preferences in two large and culturally distinct groups of immigrants in Germany, namely those with Turkish and Polish origins. Our analysis indicates both daughter and son preferences in contemporary Germany and supports the notion of potentially changing gender preferences within ethnic groups over time as well as continuous differences between ethnic groups of natives and immigrants in Western societies. Whereas the observed differences between natives and immigrants suggest incomplete cultural assimilation with regard to gender-and familyrelated attitudes and values, they barely contribute to explaining differential fertility behaviors, as effects sizes tend to be fairly similar across groups.

One Order Fits All? Birth Order and Education in Immigrant Families

“…Evidence from the US and Canada, as well as for Finnish-born immigrants to Sweden, indicates cultural persistence (Al Harahsheh 2011;Almond et al 2013), whereas other US evidence as well as findings from Israel indicate acculturation (Okun 1996;Ost and Dziadula 2016). As previously mentioned, newer studies from Sweden (Mussino et al 2019) and Germany (Carol and Hank 2019) also provide support for cultural persistence, although the first found that arrival in childhood and whether the father of the second-born child was Swedish were associated with acculturation. Our findings are therefore in line with those found in the existing literature on sex preferences.…”

“…Their evidence therefore supports the importance of cultural persistence but is also consistent with some forms of adaption or acculturation. Carol and Hank (2019)…”

Gender preferences and fertility: Investigating the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany

“…Finally, our use of survey rather than census data, while limiting the number of observations, allows us to incorporate several interesting control variables that are not available in the German census but remain relevant when examining gender preferences. These latter two contributions allow our analysis to further expand the work of Carol and Hank (2019).…”

“…Nevertheless, there is scant research on this phenomenon among immigrants in Germany. An important exception is the research conducted by Carol and Hank (2019) comparing German native and immigrant (Turkish and Polish) parental gender preferences for their offspring. Our paper seeks to add to this line of research by comparing parental gender preferences for offspring between native German women and immigrant Turkish women.…”

“…Second, parental gender preferences for offspring within immigrant communities have the potential to both affect fertility (Carol and Hank 2019) and create demographic distortions (Dubuc and Coleman 2007;Abrevaya 2009) in the host country. Examining these patterns would thereby lead to a better understanding of childbearing attitudes in immigrant groups (Carol and Hank 2019) and perhaps allow for remedial policies in the case of the latter. Third, in examining gender preferences, our analysis considers transitions to higher birth parities rather than the number of children alone.…”