New Poll: More Americans Prefer Baby Boys to Baby Girls

Reason ^ | June 24, 2011 | Ronald Bailey

[TheDingoAteMyBaby]

LiveScience is reporting a new Gallup Poll which finds:

If they were only allowed to have one child, more Americans would prefer it be a boy rather than a girl, a new survey finds.

Despite the intervening woman's movement, the results are very similar to those found when the same question was asked of Americans in 1941.

The Gallup polling agency asked a random sample of 1,020 American adults whether they'd prefer to have a girl or a boy if they could only chose one. Forty percent said they'd pick a boy, 28 percent said they would want a girl, and the rest didn't mind either way or weren't sure.

In 1941, Americans asked a similar question responded with 38 percent preferring a boy, 24 percent preferring a girl, and the rest with no preference. The question has been asked eight other times in the intervening years, with the numbers remaining fairly constant.

The preference for boys over girls is driven by men, 49 percent of whom said they'd want a son. Only 22 percent said they'd prefer a daughter. Women, in contrast, showed no significant preference, with 31 percent preferring a boy and 32 percent preferring a girl.

Americans younger than 30 are the most likely to say they'd prefer a boy, with 54 percent making that choice, and 27 percent preferring a baby girl. The gap then declines steadily with age. Education also plays a role: People with a postgraduate education break even in their preferences, while 44 percent of those with a high-school education or less prefer boys, compared with 25 percent who prefer girls.

The restriction of having but one child seems critical here. A 2006 study pubiished in the journal Fertility and Sterility asked 1,997 Americans what their preferences for a child's sex would be if they could take advantage of preconception sex selection technologies. The researchers reported:

Eight percent of respondents would use preconception sex selection technology, 74% were opposed, and 18% were undecided. If the sex selection process was simplified to taking a pill, 18% would be willing to use such a medication, 59% were opposed, and 22% were undecided. In terms of gender choices, 39% of respondents would like their first child to be a son, 19% would like their first child to be a daughter, and 42% had no preference. Overall, 50% wished to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls, 7% with more boys than girls, 6% with more girls than boys, 5% with only boys, 4% with only girls, and 27% had no preference.

Preconception sex selection technology via sperm separation is unlikely to be used by the majority of the United States population and is unlikely to have a significant impact on the natural sex ratio.

Of course, the practice of sex selective abortions is significantly skewing male/female sex ratios in China and India. But relative scarcity may have an upside; a 2010 paper found some evidence that baby girls in India are being treated better [PDF] than previously.

[eeriegeno]

When we, as a society, have to question the value of a girl baby vs. a boy baby (or any baby or fetus), we have lost our way.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I wonder if the preference for boys plays a part in abortion decisions here, as it does in China and India.

[DustyMoment]

LiveScience is reporting a new Gallup Poll which finds: If they were only allowed to have one child, more Americans would prefer it be a boy rather than a girl, . . . .

More's the pity and more proof of the dumbing down of Americans. Without girls (God bless'em!), there won't BE boys!!!



whaddya gotta do with these morons - draw'em a freakin' picture!??)

[DustyMoment]

LiveScience is reporting a new Gallup Poll which finds: If they were only allowed to have one child, more Americans would prefer it be a boy rather than a girl, . . . .

More's the pity and more proof of the dumbing down of Americans. Without girls (God bless'em!), there won't BE boys!!!



(whaddya gotta do with these morons - draw'em a freakin' picture!??)

[Politicalmom]

I had a boy first. I cried with joy every time the next three ultrasounds showed girls.

Needless to say my son is “challenging”. :)

[Gator113]

I guess I’m in the minority.

I wanted a girl first and a boy for our second.

I got my wishes and was blessed with the two best children that a dad could ever have the privilege to raise.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone for 6 children.

I was the oldest of 3 boys and 3 girls and I loved growing up in a large, yet poor family.

Mostly, I just wanted our children to be born healthy... thank God they were.

[Tanniker Smith]

And all those baby boys can grow up and move to New York now and marry each other.

sorry ... don't mind me ... I live here ...

[Mygirlsmom]

7 girls??? That is Awesome!

I'm sure you often heard the question

"so.....are you going to try for a boy?"

We have three fabulous daughters, and we heard it a lot! Our reply was always the same - "before we know it there will be boys all over the place. We're going to let the girls choose our sons."

Well, it looks like our oldest has "chosen" and very well for that matter. It's not official, but as soon as it is, I plan on sending out "It's a Boy!" announcements, LOL

[Gator113]

Congratulations!

We have 8 grandchildren. It just keeps getting better and better.

[RichInOC]

“I’ll take either one, as long as they’re Extra Crispy.”

[swatbuznik]

I wanted a boy, but got four wonderful girls! I could go for four more! As my grandmother said to me, “God gave you girls because he already saw that there was enough man in the house.”

[TheDingoAteMyBaby]

“We’re going to let the girls choose our sons.” That’s a neat way of putting it!

[kelly4c]

I only have one daughter, and one grandson. But I gotta say, I love little boys, and if polled I would pick a boy too. Would never tell my daughter this though:)

There’s something about them that brings out my maternal instincts just a little more. It is what it is.

[Vigilanteman]

Wow! If you were a dairy bull, you'd be worth a lot of money.

My brother and I have six duaghters between us, all blue ribbon heifers, both beauty and brains. I made that remark to him in front of our wives. His turns to mine and said "And I suppose we had nothing to do with it!"

[srmorton]

I found out that I was pregnant with twins in 1980 when they would not make predictions as to the sex from what was then the very new technology of ultrasound. I begged the radiologist to tell me that they were not both boys because I had no idea what I would do if they were. I have one sister and four nieces so boys were (and still are) a bit of a mystery to me. All he would say is that there was a good chance there was at least one boy - although he knew then that they were both girls.

Less than two months later, my two daughters were born six weeks early by C-section. They were beautiful babies and are now two gorgeous 30 year old young women - if I do say so myself. Although I would have been glad to welcome one or even two boys, my girls were and still are the great joys of my life (one is actually named Joy). My only regret is that (so far) I have no grandchildren, but I am not giving up on that yet!

[Island Girl]

I have two girfriends at church. One had three boys and the other three girls. They both got pregnant and guess what - Boy Mom had another boy and Girl Mom had another girl. I thought, why not just swap?

I had a boy first and then the girl. Love them both to death, even though they’re all big and used. Better get some grandbabies soon...

[chris_bdba]

What do you mean thrid world? It happens here too especially when they already have one or two of one sex and want the other.....

[ops33]

I agree with you. Our son was born during the early days of ultra sound. When my wife had a routine ultra sound the doctor asked if we wanted to know the sex of our child. We both told him not to bother, that we would take the baby anyway God made him.

[surrey]

I have 4 grandsons and 3 grand daughters and those boys know how to play me. In a good way.