More daughters, more divorce

[aphar]

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/09/07/daughters_divorce/index.html
Girls are associated with a higher likelihood of a parental split, but there is no agreement on why.
The sex of your baby can tell you all sorts of things -- namely, which pastel hue will soon overtake your life -- but rarely do couples consider what it will mean for their marriage. Cue this curious fact: Those with a daughter are 5 percent more likely to divorce than those with a boy, and the likelihood of a split only increases with each additional daughter. What's more, unwed couples are more likely to marry if they discover they have a boy on the way.
...the woman is leaving the man in 73 percent of divorces. Anita E. Kelly, a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame, argues, "So, perhaps we should be wondering, 'Why are mothers of daughters divorcing more than mothers of sons?'" She gives a couple of potential explanations: "When adult sons live at home, they add to the daily workload of their parents. When adult daughters live at home, they decrease the daily workload." Also, "females offer more and better social support than do men" and "an enormous human motivation is avoiding being lonely." She continues: "When we add up these facts, a conclusion we might draw is that wives with daughters are less likely to stay with their husbands because they know that with a girl, they'll never be lonely or without help. Thus, they may be less willing to tolerate any bad behaviors from their husbands (and less willing to stay married) because they don't need their husbands as much. This idea could even explain why couples expecting a girl are less likely to marry: A woman carrying a girl anticipates that she won't need a husband."
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The explanation above sounds like complete tosh to me.
Pinker et al offers a different explanation: evolutionally, a woman's success in life is predicated on her looks, so her father cannot give her much after conception. A man's success depends on his fater's status, so sticking around for a son makes sense for the father. And even if "the woman is leaving the man in 73 percent of divorces", it does not mean that the man has nothing to do with it - maybe he just did not care about keeping the woman...
I cannot say that I am particularly happy with this explanation either...

Comments

[allka.livejournal.com]

I think women, on average, are more worried about raising a son without a father, than about raising a daughter without a father. There is a stereotype of "mama's boy", raised by a single mom. No same-sex role model, over-protectiveness, etc., etc. No such stereotype about girls. But overall, the article is surprising to me. It is also surprising that most divorces are initiated by women.

[aphar.livejournal.com]

I think women, on average, are more worried about raising a son without a father, than about raising a daughter without a father.
I think you are trying to rationalize the data. I doubt that people actually keep marriages based on a rational thoughts about difficulties with raising kids.

It is also surprising that most divorces are initiated by women.
I didn't know that either (2/3 of divorces are filed by women, the higher the education level, the more).

[allka.livejournal.com]

yeah... the finding that unwed couples are less likely to marry if they are expecting a girl is so strange that I would not rule out just pure chance.