Table 1

Predicted infant sex ratios by birth order and maternal race/ethnicity

Infant Male:Female Ratio
Variable(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
African American −0.021** −0.038** −0.073† −0.050† −0.049 
 (0.002) (0.013) (0.041) (0.030) (0.075) 
American Indian −0.014** −0.023* −0.017 −0.040* −0.018 
 (0.005) (0.010) (0.014) (0.017) (0.033) 
Chinese 0.019** 0.015 −0.083 −0.014 −0.008 
 (0.007) (0.009) (0.065) (0.025) (0.117) 
Asian Indian −0.012† −0.011 −0.129† −0.047 −0.078 
 (0.007) (0.013) (0.067) (0.031) (0.122) 
Korean 0.019 0.017 −0.093 −0.037 −0.038 
 (0.014) (0.016) (0.062) (0.033) (0.100) 
Japanese 0.024* 0.021 −0.040 −0.014 −0.014 
 (0.012) (0.014) (0.045) (0.026) (0.062) 
Filipino 0.020** 0.013 −0.059 0.005 0.010 
 (0.007) (0.009) (0.072) (0.027) (0.122) 
Vietnamese 0.007 −0.001 −0.096 −0.012 −0.015 
 (0.009) (0.015) (0.076) (0.021) (0.130) 
Birth Order 2 −0.005** −0.005 −0.006 −0.005 −0.005 
 (0.002) (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.005) 
Birth Order 3 −0.008** −0.012 −0.014† −0.014† −0.014 
 (0.002) (0.008) (0.008) (0.008) (0.010) 
African American, Birth Order 2 −0.002 −0.002 −0.001 −0.001 −0.001 
 (0.003) (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) 
African American, Birth Order 3 −0.001 −0.000 0.001 0.001 0.001 
 (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) 
American Indian, Birth Order 2 0.013 0.014 0.014† 0.014† 0.014 
 (0.008) (0.009) (0.009) (0.008) (0.009) 
American Indian, Birth Order 3 −0.002 −0.000 −0.000 0.000 −0.000 
 (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) 
Chinese, Birth Order 2 0.005 0.003 0.002 0.002 0.002 
 (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Chinese, Birth Order 3 0.076** 0.073** 0.072** 0.072** 0.072** 
 (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) 
Asian Indian, Birth Order 2 0.030** 0.025** 0.024* 0.024* 0.024* 
 (0.009) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Asian Indian, Birth Order 3 0.126** 0.118** 0.117** 0.117** 0.117** 
 (0.014) (0.015) (0.016) (0.015) (0.016) 
Korean, Birth Order 2 0.018 0.018 0.017 0.017 0.017 
 (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) 
Korean, Birth Order 3 0.057† 0.057† 0.057† 0.056† 0.056† 
 (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) 
Japanese, Birth Order 2 −0.018 −0.019 −0.019 −0.019 −0.019 
 (0.017) (0.018) (0.018) (0.017) (0.017) 
Japanese, Birth Order 3 0.025 0.025 0.025 0.025 0.025 
 (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) 
Filipino, Birth Order 2 0.003 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 
 (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Filipino, Birth Order 3 0.013 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.014 
 (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) 
Vietnamese, Birth Order 2 0.009 0.009 0.008 0.008 0.008 
 (0.012) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) 
Vietnamese, Birth Order 3 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 
 (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) 
Constant 1.063** 0.616 0.493 0.459 0.406 
 (0.024) (1.475) (1.542) (1.465) (1.528) 
Observations 4,571 4,571 4,571 4,571 4,571 
R2 .063 .065 .068 .068 .071 
Race/Ethnicity, Birth Order, and Year Indicators Y Y Y Y Y 
Controls for Parental Characteristics  Y Y Y Y 
Controls for Cultural Measures   Y  Y 
Controls for Economic Measures    Y Y 
Infant Male:Female Ratio
Variable(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
African American −0.021** −0.038** −0.073† −0.050† −0.049 
 (0.002) (0.013) (0.041) (0.030) (0.075) 
American Indian −0.014** −0.023* −0.017 −0.040* −0.018 
 (0.005) (0.010) (0.014) (0.017) (0.033) 
Chinese 0.019** 0.015 −0.083 −0.014 −0.008 
 (0.007) (0.009) (0.065) (0.025) (0.117) 
Asian Indian −0.012† −0.011 −0.129† −0.047 −0.078 
 (0.007) (0.013) (0.067) (0.031) (0.122) 
Korean 0.019 0.017 −0.093 −0.037 −0.038 
 (0.014) (0.016) (0.062) (0.033) (0.100) 
Japanese 0.024* 0.021 −0.040 −0.014 −0.014 
 (0.012) (0.014) (0.045) (0.026) (0.062) 
Filipino 0.020** 0.013 −0.059 0.005 0.010 
 (0.007) (0.009) (0.072) (0.027) (0.122) 
Vietnamese 0.007 −0.001 −0.096 −0.012 −0.015 
 (0.009) (0.015) (0.076) (0.021) (0.130) 
Birth Order 2 −0.005** −0.005 −0.006 −0.005 −0.005 
 (0.002) (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.005) 
Birth Order 3 −0.008** −0.012 −0.014† −0.014† −0.014 
 (0.002) (0.008) (0.008) (0.008) (0.010) 
African American, Birth Order 2 −0.002 −0.002 −0.001 −0.001 −0.001 
 (0.003) (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) 
African American, Birth Order 3 −0.001 −0.000 0.001 0.001 0.001 
 (0.003) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) (0.004) 
American Indian, Birth Order 2 0.013 0.014 0.014† 0.014† 0.014 
 (0.008) (0.009) (0.009) (0.008) (0.009) 
American Indian, Birth Order 3 −0.002 −0.000 −0.000 0.000 −0.000 
 (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) (0.011) 
Chinese, Birth Order 2 0.005 0.003 0.002 0.002 0.002 
 (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Chinese, Birth Order 3 0.076** 0.073** 0.072** 0.072** 0.072** 
 (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) (0.012) 
Asian Indian, Birth Order 2 0.030** 0.025** 0.024* 0.024* 0.024* 
 (0.009) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Asian Indian, Birth Order 3 0.126** 0.118** 0.117** 0.117** 0.117** 
 (0.014) (0.015) (0.016) (0.015) (0.016) 
Korean, Birth Order 2 0.018 0.018 0.017 0.017 0.017 
 (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) (0.021) 
Korean, Birth Order 3 0.057† 0.057† 0.057† 0.056† 0.056† 
 (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) (0.030) 
Japanese, Birth Order 2 −0.018 −0.019 −0.019 −0.019 −0.019 
 (0.017) (0.018) (0.018) (0.017) (0.017) 
Japanese, Birth Order 3 0.025 0.025 0.025 0.025 0.025 
 (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) (0.022) 
Filipino, Birth Order 2 0.003 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 
 (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010) 
Filipino, Birth Order 3 0.013 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.014 
 (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) 
Vietnamese, Birth Order 2 0.009 0.009 0.008 0.008 0.008 
 (0.012) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) (0.013) 
Vietnamese, Birth Order 3 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 
 (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) (0.016) 
Constant 1.063** 0.616 0.493 0.459 0.406 
 (0.024) (1.475) (1.542) (1.465) (1.528) 
Observations 4,571 4,571 4,571 4,571 4,571 
R2 .063 .065 .068 .068 .071 
Race/Ethnicity, Birth Order, and Year Indicators Y Y Y Y Y 
Controls for Parental Characteristics  Y Y Y Y 
Controls for Cultural Measures   Y  Y 
Controls for Economic Measures    Y Y 

Notes: All models include indicators for each race/ethnicity category, birth order, and year. The full model includes controls for mean maternal and paternal age, marital status, proportion of mothers who live in the United States, proportions of births at first, second, and third parity, and aggregate group characteristics from the U.S. Census and ACS data measured separately by gender: proportions not in the labor force, foreign-born, living in a three-generation household, non-U.S. citizen, home ownership, Hispanic ethnicity, farm residence, and mean values of years living in the United States, family income, and home values. Bootstrapped standard errors stratified by race/ethnicity are shown in parentheses.

Source: NVSS 1969–2018, limited to births at parities 1–3 (live birth orders 1–3).

†p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01

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