Preference for Sons, Family Size, and Sex Ratio: An Empirical Study in Korea

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of son preference on sex ratio and fertility at the family level, utilizing World Fertility Survey data for Korea, whose population is known to have a strong preference for sons and a fairly high level of contraceptive use. The sex ratio (number of males per 100 females) of siblings in small families is considerably higher than in large families. The sex ratio of last-born children in families of any size is markedly higher than that of the previous children. The sex distribution of children for a given family size, if less than five, deviates significantly from the Bernoulli sequence. The observed frequency of all-girl families is especially small in comparison with the expected value. The sex of the last child strongly influences couples' decision making regarding additional births in all steps of family building except for bearing a second child. In increasing their families to moderate size, parents appear to take into consideration the sex distribution of all earlier births.

Son preference in Bangladesh: an emerging barrier to fertility regulation

“…While single parity women may desire additional children, irrespective of sex composition, because of the prevailing norm of moderate family size in Bangladesh, the women of parity five or above may have reached too advanced an age or too large a family size to desire more children. This is consistent with findings in other studies which showed the effect of son preference on couples' efforts to increase their families to moderate size (Park, 1983;Chung, Cha & Lee, 1974;Akhter & Rider, 1983). Overall, the results show that son preference has a positive effect on desire for additional children and a negative effect on contraceptive use during the present transitional phase of Bangladesh society.…”

Intention versus behaviour in parental sex preferences among the Mukogodo of Kenya

“…A common pattern is for parents to continue having babies until they have a certain number of sons (Coombs, 1979;Park, 1983;Arnold, 1985;Gadalla, McCarthy & Campbell, 1985). Sex preferences may also have important effects on patterns of child care (Chen, Huq & D'Souza, 1981;Bairagi, 1986;Das Gupta, 1987;Levine, 1987) and on male and female child mortality rates (D'Souza & Chen, 1980;Choe, 1987;Das Gupta, 1987).…”

Have a Son, Gain a Voice: Son Preference and Female Participation in Household Decision Making

“…Son preference is an age-old phenomenon widespread in the traditional societies of South and East Asia (D 'souza & Chen, 1980;Dinitz, Dynes, Clarke, & Dini1z, 1954;Gu & Roy, 1995;Guilmoto, 2009;Hammad & Rajoria, 2013;Park, 1983). This preference manifests itself in such sex-selection methods as differential stopping behavior and sex-selective abortion.…”