Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T19:55:57.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factors influencing the sex ratio at birth in Australia, 1902–65

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

G. N. Pollard
G. N. Pollard
Affiliation:
School of Economic and Financial Studies, Macquarie University, New South Wales
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Using Australian records of human births for the first six decades of the twentieth century, the proportions of male and female births are studied in relation to the mother's age, the father's age, the parents' ages in combination, and certain other factors. The principal data used relate to the years 1931–55, during which over 3 million children were born, yet even so the significant features are not easy to discern.

Masculinity tends to fall as the age of either parent increases. But it is only average or below if one parent is old while the other is young. For high masculinity, both parents must be young.

The Australian data are available in a form which enables the sex ratio to be studied also in relation to (a) the season of the year; (b) urban and rural areas; (c) the different states of the Commonwealth; (d) births inside and outside marriage; and (e) single and multiple births. When the influence of the parents' ages is eliminated, however, it does not appear as though the sex ratio varies significantly with any of these factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1969 , pp. 125 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bernstein, M.E. (1952) Studies in the human sex ratio. 2. The proportion of unisexual sibships. Hum. Biol. 24, 35.Google Scholar
Bernstein, M.E. (1953) Parental age and the sex ratio. Science, N. Y. 118, 448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambliss, R. (1949) The geographic factor in the human ratio at birth. Social Forces, 28, 190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gini, C. (1951) Combinations and sequences of sexes in human families and mammal litters. Acta genet. Statist. med. 2, 220.Google ScholarPubMed
Eldridge, H.T. & Siegel, J.S. (1946) The changing sex ratio in the U.S. Am. J. Sociol. 52, 224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jalavisto, E. (1952) Sex ratio at birth and its dependence on birth order and parental age. Annls Chir. Gynaec. Fenn. 41, 129.Google ScholarPubMed
Kang, Y.S. & Cho, W.K. (1959) Parental age and the sex ratio at birth. Seoul Univ. J. (Biol.), 918.Google Scholar
Knibbs, G. (1925) The human sex ratio and the reduction of masculinity through large families J. Proc. R. Soc. N.S.W. 59, 212.Google Scholar
Lejeune, J. & Turpin, R. (1957) Influence de l'âge des parents sur la masculinité des naissances vivantes C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris, 244, 1833.Google Scholar
Lowe, C.R. & McKeown, T. (1950) The sex ratio of human births related to maternal age. Br. J. soc. Med. 4, 75.Google ScholarPubMed
Lowe, C.R. & McKeown, T. (1951) A note on secular changes in the human sex ratio at birth. Br. J. soc. Med. 5, 91.Google ScholarPubMed
MacMahon, B. & Pugh, T. (1953) Influence of birth order and maternal age on the human sex ratio at birth. Br. J. prev. soc. Med. 7, 83.Google ScholarPubMed
Myers, R.J. (1947) Effect of the war on the sex ratio at birth. Am. Sociol. Rev. 12, 40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, R.J. (1954) The effects of age of mother and birth order on sex ratio at birth. Milbank meml Fund q. Bull. 32, 275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nag, A.C. (1954) Variation of sex-ratio under different conditions. Bull. int. statist. Inst. 33, 75.Google Scholar
Novitski, E. (1953) The dependence of the secondary sex ratio in humans on the age of the father. Science, N.Y. 117, 531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Novitski, E. & Kimball, A.W. (1958) Birth order, parental ages and sex of offspring. Am. J. hum. Genet. 10, 268.Google Scholar
Novitski, E. & Sandler, L. (1956) The relationship between parental age, birth order and the secondary sex ratio in humans. Ann. hum. Genet. 21, 123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panunzio, C. (1943) Are more males born in wartime? Milbank meml Fund q. Bull. 21, 281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkes, A.S. (1963) The sex-ratio in human populations. In: Man and his Future. Ed. Wolstenholme, G.E.W.Churchill, London.Google Scholar
Renkonen, K.O. (1963) Decreasing sex ratio by birth order. Lancet, i, 60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slatis, H.M. (1953) Seasonal variation in the American live birth sex ratio. Am. J. hum. Genet. 5, 21.Google ScholarPubMed
Strandskov, H.H. & Roth, J.A. (1949) A comparison of rural and urban birth sex ratios for the total, white and coloured U.S. populations. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 7, 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strandskov, H.H. & Siemens, G.T. (1946) An analysis of the sex ratio among single and plural births in the total, the white and the coloured U.S. populations. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 4, 491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Takahashi, E. (1954 b) The effects of the age of mother on the sex ratio at birth in Japan. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 57, 531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wicksell, S.D. (1926) Sex proportion and parental age. Lunds Univ. årsskrift, N.F. 22, Nr. 6.Google Scholar
Winston, S. (1931) The influence of social factors upon the sex ratio at birth. Am. J. Sociol. 37, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar