Parental predetermination of the sex of offspring: the attitudes of young married couples with university education

Abstract

Summary An intensive pilot survey involving direct contact with 47 young married couples with university education was conducted to determone their attitudes tiwards general (public) and personal choice and control by parents of the sex of offspring. Information as to premarital family status and present number and sex of children was obained. Questionnaires were completed before and after information had provided regarding new methods of fetal sex detemination, abortion, and related topics. Opportunity for discussion by husband and wife between sessions was allowed, but discussion with other was discouraged. Results indicate that sex choice will be accepted and employed by the majority of highly educated, middle-class individuals. While selection of the first-child sex is of negligible importance to most, planning for a second child with opposite sex to the first is strongly favoured. The tendency to prefer males is not as pronounced as reported in previous, less direct studies. The majority preferred a two-child family with one child of each sex. Prospective methods (e.g. a pre-coital, sex-selective pill, when available) were much preferred to retrospective methods involving abortion. Inthe meantime, fetal sex determination in the first trimester of pregnancy with selective abortion may soon be widely practised. New problems in marital and family adjustment, family planning, and social organization may arise with the advent of this new step in human sexual socio-econtingencies need further onvestigation at various socia-economic and educational levels and in different cultural milieus.