Contents
The question “Who do you love more, son or daughter?” seems outrageous, but economists and psychologists are sure that our behavior gives a quite unambiguous answer to it.
In times of economic hardship, parents prefer to invest in daughters rather than sons. According to a study conducted by specialists from the Carlson School of Management and the Rutgers Business School, we are more likely to enroll a daughter than a son in various circles and sections, and rather bequeath to her most of our assets1. True, only if we consider the economic situation unfavorable.
“Almost all parents say they don’t prioritize one child over another, but in reality, during a recession, they unconsciously start helping girls more,” says study author Kristina Durante, marketing professor at Rutgers Business School.
Read more:
- Why are girls not like boys?
In one experiment, 629 participants were given a news item to read, in different versions of which it was reported that the economic situation was getting better, getting worse, or staying the same. They were then asked how they would divide their assets between an imaginary son and daughter. Those who thought hard times were ahead spent almost 60% of their resources on their daughters, in two other cases, people divided assets between children almost perfectly equally.
“Such results resemble the behavior of animals. In resource-limited settings, parents prefer female children because it is more reproductively beneficial. Almost every child-girl will then have children of her own, but many boys will remain childless,” says Professor Vladas Grishkevicius from the Carlson School2. Moreover, the distribution of resources in favor of girls becomes more pronounced as they approach reproductive age.
Pass the tests
- How much freedom are you willing to give your children?
To test their findings, the researchers also examined the relationship between US GDP and sales of children’s clothing for boys and girls between 1984 and 2011. It found that in times of economic hardship, the ratio of spending on girls’ clothes to boys’ clothing increased by 19,8% in favor of girls: the lower the GDP, the more skewed towards daughters.
“When we interviewed parents, it was very clear that they try to treat all children equally. But if they make decisions based on emotions, it is likely that some of the children will receive more from their parents than the rest – especially when there is not enough money for everything. If they are aware of such a danger, they will be able to consciously adjust their behavior so that all children get the same,” says Associate Professor Joseph Redden (Joseph Redden) from the Carlson School.
1 K. Durante et al. “Spending on daughters versus sons in economic recessions,” forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research.
2 Co-author of the book Rational Animal (AST, 2015).