Midi de la recherche

Ester Rizzi, Malgorzata Mikucka (Centre de recherche en démographie - UCL), Preference or Indifference? Parents and the Sex Composition of Children

Previous studies on developed countries have shown that parents having two girls or two boys are more likely to have a third child, indicating preferences for a mixed gender composition of children. This finding has been observed in most countries, while in some others no preferences appear. The latter result is in line with the prediction of the gender revolution theory: when gender equity increases in society, preferences for the gender composition of children should not be observed. In this study, we employed data of the European Social Survey from round 1 to round 6 (2002-2012). We measured parents’ preferences by using a new indicator: parents’ happiness. We observed that the effect of the gender composition of children on parents’ happiness varies according to their religious affiliation, showing some puzzling findings.