Learning to Value Girls: Balanced Infant Sex Ratios at Higher Parental Education in the United States, 1969-2018

Abstract

Infant sex ratios that differ from the biological norm provide a measure of gender status inequality that is not susceptible to social desirability bias. Ratios may become less biased with educational expansion through reduced preference for male children. Alternatively, bias could increase with education through more access to sex-selective medical technologies. Using National Vital Statistics data on the population of live births in the United States for 1969-2018, we examine trends in infant sex ratios by parental race/ethnicity, education, and birth parity over five decades. We find son-biased infant sex ratios among Chinese and Asian Indian births that have persisted in recent years, and regressions suggest son-biased ratios among births to Filipino and Japanese mothers with less than a high school education. Infant sex ratios are more balanced at higher levels of maternal education, particularly when both parents are college educated. Results suggest greater equality of gender status with higher education in the United States.

Keywords: Education; Gender inequality; Race/ethnicity; Sex ratios.

Fig. 1

Trends in infant sex ratios by race/ethnicity in the United States for parities 1–3. Red horizontal rules indicate infant sex ratios within the biological norm. Source: NVSS 1969–2018, five-year means limited to births at parities 1–3 (live birth orders 1–3).

Fig. 2

Trends in infant sex ratios by race/ethnicity in the United States for parity 2 (panel a) and parity 3 (panel b). Red horizontal rules indicate infant sex ratios within the biological norm. Source: NVSS 1969–2018, limited to births at parities 2 and 3.

Fig. 3

Coefficients predicting male:female infant sex ratios by parity and maternal race/ethnicity relative to White births. Estimates are from Models 1 and 5 in Table 1. The figure depicts coefficients for births at second and third parity (live birth orders 2 and 3) relative to first birth for each maternal race/ethnicity category (White is the omitted category). All models include indicators for each race/ethnicity category, birth order, and year. The full model includes controls for mean maternal and paternal age, marital status, proportion of mothers who live in the United States, proportions of births at first, second, and third parity, and aggregate group characteristics from the U.S. Census and ACS data measured separately by gender: proportions not in the labor force, foreign-born, living in a three-generation household, non-U.S. citizen, home ownership, Hispanic ethnicity, farm residence, and mean values of years living in the United States, family income, and home values. Whiskers represent 95% CIs. Source: NVSS 1969–2018.

Fig. 4

Predicted infant sex ratios by maternal education and race/ethnicity at parity 3. Red horizontal rules indicate infant sex ratios within the biological norm. The model includes indicators for each race/ethnicity category, maternal education category, and year and controls for mean maternal and paternal age, marital status, and proportion of mothers who live in the United States. Whiskers represent 95% CIs. HS = high school. BA = bachelor’s degree. Source: NVSS 1969–2018, limited to births at parity 3.

Fig. 5

Coefficients for interaction between maternal race/ethnicity and indicator for maternal college education in separate models limited to births to fathers with or without college education. The models include indicators for each race/ethnicity category and year and controls for mean maternal and paternal age, marital status, proportion of mothers who live in the United States, proportions of births at first, second, and third parity, and aggregate group characteristics from the U.S. Census and ACS data measured separately by gender: proportions not in the labor force, foreign-born, living in a three-generation household, non-U.S. citizen, home ownership, Hispanic ethnicity, farm residence, and mean values of years living in the United States, family income, and home values. Whiskers represent 95% CIs. Source: NVSS 1969–2018, limited to births at parities 2–3.