An economics study published by Gordon Dahl and Enrico Moretti found that couples with only daughters were more likely to divorce than those with sons. A response to this study was posted on Slate magazine by Everyday Economics columnist, Steven Landsburg, who asks,""Do daughters cause divorce?"
The title is catchy but I think inaccurate. Beyond the expected grumbling about yet another article about why boys are better, let me probe a bit deeper. First off, framing the question as whether daughters cause divorce is misleading. It's not that daughters are evil and break up marriages. A more likely story is that society's higher value on men leads couples to feel less obligated in providing a two-parent home for a daughter than a son.
Also, Landsburg says that because single mothers are less likely to remarry if they have daughters this "suggest[s] that daughters are a liability in the market for a husband." Is something a liability if there is just less demand? A similar study conducted by Shelly Lundberg and Elaina Rose found that a single mother's confidence in parenting was a significant factor in her decision to remarry. Generally, mothers felt capable in raising daughters and even thought a male presence was intrusive. However, mothers prefered to raise a son with a male parent.
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