A boy for you and a girl for me: Do men want sons and women want daughters?

Abstract

Survey data show that more than 60 per cent of Australian couples yet to have a first child say that the child's sex does not matter. Of the minority who do express a preference most would prefer a son, though men mare so than women. Where couples have one child and want another, most still say that the sex of the next child does not matter, though parents who already have a daughter are more likely to want a son than are those who already have a son to want a daughter. Where couples have two children and want a third, parents who have two children of the same sex are more likely to want a child of the opposite sex than are those who already have one son and one daughter.