Almond, Douglas, and Yixin Sun, “Son-Biased Sex Ratios in 2010 US Census and 2011-2013 US Natality Data,” Social Science and Medicine 176 (December 2016), doi:dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.038

URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616307183

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Abstract

If gender bias is receding, demographic manifestations of son preference should also tend to decrease. The sex composition of US children provides a key barometer of gender preference. In the 2010 US Population Census, Chinese and Asian-Indian families are more likely to have a son after a daughter, consistent with previous research. Korean-American families, by contrast, do not show this same pattern, paralleling recent declines in sex selection observed for South Korea. Non-Hispanic White families have sex ratios within the range of the biologically norm regardless of the sex composition of previous children. We corroborate the 2010 Census data with 2011–2013 birth certificate microdata, which likewise show elevated sex ratios for Chinese and Asian Indians at higher birth orders.

While sex-selective abortion has been banned in some US states, Almond and Sun’s (2016) study shows that son preference persists in areas of the population, and that other means of sex-selection, such as pre-implantation sex-selection technologies, continue to be utilized. The broader underlying causes that lead families to prefer sons over daughters must be addressed.