Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T21:01:44.464Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parental Age and Birth Order in Homosexual Patients: A Replication of Slater's Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. H. Hare  and
P. A. P. Moran
E. H. Hare
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
P. A. P. Moran
Affiliation:
The Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Parental age (at patient's birth) and birth order were studied in 623 male and 89 female patients diagnosed as homosexual, who were born in England and Wales and first attended the Maudsley Hospital between the years 1961–1975. For male patients, mean parental ages were significantly higher than expectation, and mean birth order was significantly later. Regression analysis indicated that the raised fathers' age was probably of more aetiological importance than the raised mothers' age. The results confirm those of previous studies. The female patients did not show a raised parental age or late birth order.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 134 , Issue 2 , February 1979 , pp. 178 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

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

Abe, K. & Moran, P. A. P. (1969) Parental age of homosexuals. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 313–18.Google Scholar
Goodman, N. (1957) Relation between maternal age at parturition and incidence of mental disorder in the offspring. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 11, 203–13.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. & Price, J. S. (1974) Birth order and birth rate bias: findings in a representative sample of the adult population of Great Britain. Journal of Biosocial Science, 6, 139–50.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. & Moran, P. A. P. (1978) Age at paternity in England and Wales, 1901–1960. Journal of Biosocial Science, in press.Google Scholar
Kenyon, F. E. (1968) Studies in female homosexuality. IV. Social and psychiatric aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 1337–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norton, A. (1952) Incidence of neurosis related to maternal age and birth order. British Journal of Social Medicine, 6, 252–8.Google Scholar
Registrar General (1953) Decennial Supplement, England and Wales 1931, Part IIB, Tables B and C. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1962) Birth order and maternal age of homosexuals. Lancet, i, 69–71.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.