Parents of teenage daughters are more likely to divorce than those with sons, study finds
- From 13-18, 10.7% parents with first-born boys split compared to 11.3% with girls
- Means parents with daughters first are 5% more likely to split, researchers found
- Fist-born child’s gender does not change likelihood of divorce until 12 years old
- Parents with daughters second-born or subsequent children see similar pattern
Couples with daughters are more likely to get divorced than those with sons, a study has found.
Between the ages of 13 and 18, 10.7 per cent of parents with first-born boys split up – compared to 11.3 per cent of parents with girls.
This means that parents who had daughters first are 5 per cent more likely to split, researchers from the US and Australia claim.
A fist-born child’s gender does not change the likelihood of divorce until the child hits 12 years old.
The difference increases when the child is 15, as almost 10 per cent more couples with girls as their oldest split up than those with boys.
Parents with daughters as their second-born or subsequent children had a similar pattern, scientists found.
Couples with daughters are more likely to get divorced than those with sons, a study found (file image)
At the age of 18, the gap narrows with 20.4 per cent of parents with first-born daughters divorcing compared to 20.12 per cent of parents with sons.
There is no different between the genders at the age of 19, the study published in the Economic Journal reported.
However, the increased risk of divorced was non-existent if the father was brought up with a sister – and it applied to both married and cohabiting couples.
Between the ages of 13 and 18, 10.7 per cent of parents with first-born boys split up – compared to 11.3 per cent of parents with girls (file image)
Their ten-year study examined two million marriages in The Netherlands.
It did not highlight a causal link between having girls and getting a divorce – but a survey found ‘parents of teenage daughters report more disagreements over child rearing, fathers of teenage daughters report worse family relationships and mothers of teenage daughters report more favourable attitudes towards divorce and lower life satisfaction’.
The University of Melbourne’s Jan Kabatek – one of the study’s authors – suggested that parents may argue more over how to bring up teen girls than teen boys, The Economist reports.