IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0143054.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the Mother or Father Determine the Offspring Sex Ratio? Investigating the Relationship between Maternal Digit Ratio and Offspring Sex Ratio

Author

Listed:
  • Tae Beom Kim
  • Jin Kyu Oh
  • Kwang Taek Kim
  • Sang Jin Yoon
  • Soo Woong Kim

Abstract

Objective: In mammals, high parental testosterone levels present around the time of conception are thought to skew offspring sex ratio toward sons. The second to fourth digit ratio (digit ratio) is now widely accepted as a negative correlate of prenatal testosterone. Thus, we investigated the association between digit ratio and offspring sex ratio. Methods: A total of 508 Korean patients (257 males and 251 females) less than 60 years old who had one or more offspring were prospectively enrolled. The lengths of the 2nd and 4th digits of the right hand were measured by a single investigator using a digital vernier calliper. Next, the patients’ lifetime offspring birth sex ratios were investigated. Results: Maternal (rather than paternal) digit ratio was significantly associated with the number of sons (r = -0.153, p = 0.015), number of daughters (r = 0.130, p = 0.039), and offspring sex ratio (r = -0.171, p = 0.007). And, the maternal digit ratio was a significant factor for predicting offspring sex ratio (B = -1.620, p = 0.008) on multiple linear regression analysis. The female patients with a lower digit ratio (

Suggested Citation

  • Tae Beom Kim & Jin Kyu Oh & Kwang Taek Kim & Sang Jin Yoon & Soo Woong Kim, 2015. "Does the Mother or Father Determine the Offspring Sex Ratio? Investigating the Relationship between Maternal Digit Ratio and Offspring Sex Ratio," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0143054
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0143054
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0143054&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0143054?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chi Zhou & Xiao Wang & Xu Zhou & Therese Hesketh, 2012. "Son preference and sex-selective abortion in China: informing policy options," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(3), pages 459-465, June.
    2. Woojin Chung & Monica Das Gupta, 2007. "The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea: The Roles of Development and Public Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 757-783, December.
    3. Terrance J. Williams & Michelle E. Pepitone & Scott E. Christensen & Bradley M. Cooke & Andrew D. Huberman & Nicholas J. Breedlove & Tessa J. Breedlove & Cynthia L. Jordan & S. Marc Breedlove, 2000. "Finger-length ratios and sexual orientation," Nature, Nature, vol. 404(6777), pages 455-456, March.
    4. repec:cai:poeine:pope_406_0865 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brañas-Garza, Pablo & Chowdhury, Subhasish M. & Espín, Antonio M. & Nieboer, Jeroen, 2023. "‘Born this Way’? Prenatal exposure to testosterone may determine behavior in competition and conflict," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Tafuro, 2020. "An Economic Framework for Persisting Son Preference: Rethinking the Role of Intergenerational Support," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(6), pages 983-1007, December.
    2. Alexandre Chiavegatto Filho & Ichiro Kawachi, 2013. "Are sex-selective abortions a characteristic of every poor region? Evidence from Brazil," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(3), pages 395-400, June.
    3. Alexander Stimpfle & David Stadelmann, 2016. "Does Central Europe Import the Missing Women Phenomenon?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2016-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    4. Sehar Ezdi & Ahmet Melik Baş, 2020. "Gender preferences and fertility: Investigating the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(3), pages 59-96.
    5. Huang, Zibin & Jiang, Xu & Sun, Ang, 2024. "Fertility and delayed migration: How son preference protects young girls against mother–child separation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Kevin Milligan, 2009. "O Sister, Where Art Thou? The Role of Son Preference and Sex Choice: Evidence from Immigrants to Canada," NBER Working Papers 15391, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Keera Allendorf, 2012. "Like daughter, like son? Fertility decline and the transformation of gender systems in the family," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(16), pages 429-454.
    8. Yukawa Shiho, 2015. "Effects of Fatherhood on Male Wage and Labor Supply in Japan," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 437-474, April.
    9. Donatella Di Corrado & Andrea Buscemi & Paola Magnano & Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Matej Tusak & Marinella Coco, 2021. "Mood States and Performance in Elite Canoe Polo Players: The Mediating Role of Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    10. Giyeon Seo & Tanya Koropeckyj‐Cox & Sanghag Kim, 2022. "Correlates of Contemporary Gender Preference for Children in South Korea," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(1), pages 161-188, March.
    11. Alice Evans, 2017. "Urban change and rural continuity in gender ideologies and practices: Theorizing from Zambia," WIDER Working Paper Series 061, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Guy J Abel & Nayoung Heo, 2018. "Subnational gender balances in South Korea," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(5), pages 941-944, August.
    13. Rajat Deb, 2016. "Determinants of Savings in Sukanya Samriddhi Account: Evidence from Tripura," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 5(2), pages 120-140, July.
    14. Paola A. Suarez, 2018. "Child-bride marriage and female welfare," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 1-28, February.
    15. Nandi, Arindam & Deolalikar, Anil B., 2013. "Does a legal ban on sex-selective abortions improve child sex ratios? Evidence from a policy change in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 216-228.
    16. Adamos Adamou & Christina Drakos & Sriya Iyer, 2013. "Missing women in the United Kingdom," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Robert Rudolf, 2014. "Work Shorter, Be Happier? Longitudinal Evidence from the Korean Five-Day Working Policy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1139-1163, October.
    18. Alice Evans, 2019. "How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia," CID Working Papers 356, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    19. Valentine Becquet & Nicolás Sacco & Ignacio Pardo, 2022. "Disparities in Gender Preference and Fertility: Southeast Asia and Latin America in a Comparative Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1295-1323, June.
    20. Anna‐Maria Aksan, 2022. "Son preference and the demographic transition," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 32-56, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0143054. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.