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First-Born Boys Demand More Mommy Time
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Behavior, Research Reveals: Babies
Baby boys demand more attention from moms than baby girls. Credit: Getty Images
British researchers who have keen insight into royal entitlement have released a new study that says "...women whose first child is a boy are less likely to work in a typical week and work fewer hours than women with first-born girls," according to the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog.
The results, though "statistically significant" and suggesting "quantitatively relevant" losses in lifetime labor income, are nonetheless "a puzzle," the authors write. They say future studies are required to answer the "whys."
But, one reason possibly contributing to the findings, they say, is the desire to have the baby boy.
"A first-born girl reduces substantially the stability of a marriage," thus women are working. It also finds that the divorce rate is four percent higher in families where the first-born is a girl. The first-born boys evidently positively affect the probability that the marriage will survive, so moms aren't racing back to work.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-21-2011 @ 5:20PM
Lauren said...Wow, I gotta say, after all the reasons why I've heard people divorce, the sex of the first-born never entered into the equation. Probably because it was NEVER a part of it. Just another lame study that wasted money.
Reply
4-22-2011 @ 3:53PM
SJM_Cookie'sMom said...This is an interesting topic, however this post is misleading. The conclusion drawn in the first paragraph does not follow from the research you are referring to. Your title is inaccurate: You are including this title in tweets and people who don't have time to read the article are passing this erroneous conclusion on as if it were a fact. You needed to do your own research here rather than copying and pasting from the Wall Street Journal article. You have a responsibility to your readers, to whom you offer 'advice', to at least try to get it right.
I posted a more detailed response on my blog, but am not allowed to provide a link here. Look for me on Twitter if you'd like to read my response.
Reply
4-22-2011 @ 4:24PM
cookieschronicles said...Forgot to include my Twitter account name: @SJM_CookiesMom
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 7:52AM
ccdae5 said...What a stupid article, obviously written by a woman who has either never been married or who married a lazy momma's boy. What she alleges may be true in England but it's certainly not the case here in America. First born men are the self sufficient overachievers in our culture. We grew up fast because we had younger siblings who soaked up most of our parents' time and money. We took care of ourselves, got jobs earlier and generally took on more responsibility for our own lives ourselves including our careers. We are generally less spoiled, harder working, and expect less from others including our spouses. I don't expect my wife to do anything for me, I handle my laundry, food, and all aspects of my life without help. The fat, lazy couch potatoes are not typically first borns unless they are only children and that's a completely different issue.
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 10:04AM
KC said...I've been married twice, to two first-born boys with younger sisters. Both had the Royal Entitlement mentality, that it was women's job to do all the household chores while Their Majesties watched TV. And both eventually extended that to "you earn enough to pay the bills so why should I get a job?"
In talking to their sisters, I discovered that when they were kids, both men had threatened the girls to get their sisters to do their share of the chores, and being much bigger than their sisters, got away with it.
4-24-2011 @ 12:16PM
B. Taylor said...T'was the opposite in my family. I was the third child and the only girl. I got it easy, the boys got the raw end of the stick. The treatment was harsher for them, looking back, and now both have signigicant issues. I'm the one with the money, education, good job and comfortable life. Advice? Treat all your children as priceless gems and forget gender. They all have to do chores, not just gender-specific. Lawn care, house work, car stuff, etc. Everybody needs to learn this stuff. Puhishments should be fair and equal as well. Love them and give them every opportunity and expect no less.
4-24-2011 @ 8:17AM
ccdae5 said...Sorry, don't do Twitter, that's for kids.
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 11:37AM
cookieschronicles said...ccdae5 said... Sorry, don't do Twitter, that's for kids.
That's what I used to think too. Well, let's try this: You can check out my response to this article at bit.ly/iemWHU.
4-24-2011 @ 8:21PM
Kelly said...OMG!!! What a terrible article, yet another example of wasted money on another stupid research project!! The title is completely misleading! I have never heard of such nonsense as to blame an increase in divorce rates to having a baby girl.
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 8:40AM
smapplebee said...My family believed a boy had to be born to carry on the family name. I, unfortunately, was born first. My brother could do no wrong and I seldom did anything right. Upon their death, he inherited everything. Unless you have experienced it, it sounds unbelievable. My parents never divorced because that was considered a disgrace upon the family. All of us would have been happier if they had. If you are not a senior citizen the article probably sounds bizarre.
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 11:58AM
Lynne said...You are absolutley right. As the younger female sibling to an older brother, I experienced exactly the same as you wrote. He could do no wrong and I was always blamed if the little prince got upset. He could do whatever he wanted to me: beat me, break my nose, assassinate my character and I had no backing in defending myself. Money was spent on him and very rarely me. He inherited everything upon my parents death as well, even though I got to do all the caring of them. I would have to say at least 50% of baby boomer women know of what I speak. I label it definate gender discrimination with the cause being an inappropriate psychological fusing of the mother to her son.
4-24-2011 @ 9:21AM
DecaturDog said...Ahh, I am so glad to be the home of a Y chromosone!
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 9:46AM
t7ptt said...Wow. So, my parents divorced b/c I'm a girl and they really wanted a boy. Hmm. all this time I thought it was b/c my dad drank too much and they were completely incompatible. Maybe that was all my fault too. B.S.
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4-24-2011 @ 11:23AM
Gia said...What a load of crap! I know plenty of people that are divorced and have first born BOYS! Who got paid to make up this OBVIOUS waste of time and money? UGH
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4-24-2011 @ 1:47PM
Yon said...OK, it happens, and then it may not happen. So what is the article's purpose?
Reply
4-24-2011 @ 3:18PM
cookieschronicles said...To get you to check out this site. It's certainly not about accuracy.