Boys Top Baby Gender Preference Poll
People in the U.S. show a slight baby gender preference for having a boy instead of a girl if they were only able to have one child.
That's according to a new Gallup poll on baby gender preferences.
The telephone poll, conducted in June, included about 1,000 U.S. adults. They were asked: "Suppose you could only have one child. Would you prefer that it be a boy or a girl?"
Here are the participants' baby gender preferences:
Boy: 37%
Girl: 28%
Either/doesn't matter: 26%
Not sure/no opinion: 9%
The "either/doesn't matter" choice wasn't mentioned as an option by the pollsters. But more than a quarter of the participants expressed that view anyway.
Participants also heard a list of possible reasons for their baby gender preference.
Among those who favored boys, the top reasons were that men can relate to boys better than to girls, boys can carry on the family name, and boys are easier to raise.
Among those who favored girls, the leading explanations were that mothers can have closer relationships with daughters, they already had one or more daughters, and that girls are easier to raise than boys.
Men were more likely than women to prefer boys, but women didn't show a similar preference for girls, according to Gallup.
The Gallup baby gender poll began in 1941 and has been conducted occasionally over the last 66 years. Throughout that time, participants have consistently favored boys over girls, given the hypothetical one-child-only limit, though the strength of that preference has waxed and waned over the years.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.
? 2007, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved
© 2007 WebMD, LLC.. All Rights Reserved. That's according to a new Gallup poll on baby gender preferences.
The telephone poll, conducted in June, included about 1,000 U.S. adults. They were asked: "Suppose you could only have one child. Would you prefer that it be a boy or a girl?"
Here are the participants' baby gender preferences:
The "either/doesn't matter" choice wasn't mentioned as an option by the pollsters. But more than a quarter of the participants expressed that view anyway.
Participants also heard a list of possible reasons for their baby gender preference.
Among those who favored boys, the top reasons were that men can relate to boys better than to girls, boys can carry on the family name, and boys are easier to raise.
Among those who favored girls, the leading explanations were that mothers can have closer relationships with daughters, they already had one or more daughters, and that girls are easier to raise than boys.
Men were more likely than women to prefer boys, but women didn't show a similar preference for girls, according to Gallup.
The Gallup baby gender poll began in 1941 and has been conducted occasionally over the last 66 years. Throughout that time, participants have consistently favored boys over girls, given the hypothetical one-child-only limit, though the strength of that preference has waxed and waned over the years.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.
? 2007, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved
Popular in Health
- Health risks remain for Okla. tornado responders, victims
- Disney pulls show that makes fun of gluten-free child
- Environmental Working Group's top sunscreens for 2013 12 Photos
- Which sunscreens are recommended for 2013?
- Bed sharing may increase risk of SIDS by five times
- Skin cancer self-exam: What to look for (PHOTOS)
- Handbags may contain more germs than average toilet flush
- Ketamine shown to help fight treatment-resistant depression














You are right! GIRLS DO RULE!!
and DNA testing goes back the mother's line?" [Posted by Hermit22]
That isn't really realistic for tracing your ancestry - if you can't trace a name back - where do you get the DNA from? Besides, who has Oprah's assets?
Men want a son to "carry on the name" - women should want the same. Maybe that would make boys and girls desirable.
Because they took your name away as a foster child, that is the very reason you should take it back. It is your name, it is who you are! You are Barbara Ann M. No one has the right to take away your name.
Of course that is only my opinion. If your name causes you distress then obviously you wouldn't want to do it.
It is different for a child who can't walk. Those boys could walk. They were lazy when a new born entered the family unit.