FAMILY BUILDING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SAME SEX AND MIXED SEX FAMILIES IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

Summary From this investigation it seems that an aversion among some couples to a same sex family has some relevance in family building. However, although there are significant differences in the proportions of same sex and mixed sex families having an additional child, the overall effect on average family size of the (apparent) attempt to achieve a child of each sex appears to be slight—an increase of less than 3% in the case of the Melbourne data. Despite the evidence that a significantly greater proportion of women with same sex families have another child, relatively few women admit that the sex structure of the children was the main factor in such a decision. Another insight into the relationship between sex structure and family building was that the desire for a child of each sex may have a negative effect on fertility in that couples who have already achieved such a configuration may decide not to have an additional child that they had originally planned to have. Obviously, it is difficult to separate attitudes to the importance of having both sons and daughters from rationalisations associated with the sex structure of the respondent's own family. Nevertheless the desire for children of each sex seems to be related to traditional attitudes to woman's role, Southern European background, an earlier year of birth, and a lower level of education. However, at the same time women in these categories, particularly the last, seem to be relatively less likely to exhibit behaviour indicative of a controlled response to the sex structure of the family; thus among such groups the probability of same sex families having another child is found to be relatively similar to the proportion of mixed sex families having another child. In other words, they are less likely than other women, who care less about having both sons and daughters, to stop at two (or three) children when at least one son and one daughter have been attained. What of the future relationship between proportions of same sex and mixed sex families having another child? Although it would seem that the combined effect of better educational opportunities and less traditional attitudes of each new generation would further reduce the importance attached to having both sons and daughters, at the same time one would expect an increase in a couple's ability to stop family building when two or three children of the desired sex structure had been achieved. Another factor is that possibly an increasing preference for smaller families will outweigh the wish to have a third (or fourth) child to achieve one child of each sex or for any other reason.

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