US Edition
It’s a Girl — Again! And Again! Why a Baby’s Sex Isn’t Random
UNITED STATES, JUL 18 – Harvard researchers found families with three boys or girls have a 58-61% chance of another child of the same sex, influenced by maternal age and genetic variants.
- On July 18, researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published in Science Advances that families have a non-random probability of child sex, influenced by genetics and maternal age.
- Although population-level sex ratio is roughly 50:50, families with multiple children of the same sex show higher-than-chance clustering, suggesting underlying biological influences.
- Families with three boys had a 61% chance of another boy, and women starting childbearing after age 28 are about 10% more likely to have single-sex offspring.
- The study’s 95% white nurse sample may limit applicability, while Brendan Zietsch, a behavioral geneticist at the University of Queensland, called the findings unconvincing.
- Future investigations should explore how environmental and biological influences shape sex determination, with Joshua Wilde urging further parsing of behavioural, environmental and biological factors.
46 Articles
46 Articles
Jessie van Uum (29) had prepared herself for two daughters. During her second pregnancy, she knew for sure: she was expecting a girl again. The pink clothes were even ready. But when it turned out she was expecting a son, she had to say goodbye to the vision she had envisioned for years with great disappointment: "Marcel and I were so set on a girl that we had to make a change when it turned out to be a boy."
A large-scale study investigating factors that may influence the sex of offspring has found that families with multiple children of the same sex are more likely to have another baby of the same sex than to have a child of the opposite sex, Nature reports.
der Standard AT
der Standard DEIf you already have several boys, you will probably get another one – that also applies to girls. The age of the mother and genetic factors are likely to play a role in this.
Actually, boys and girls should be born with the same probability, but in some families only sons are born, in others only daughters. Researchers discover a clear pattern.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 48% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
