A Re-examination of the Sex Ratios of Families with a Neurodevelopmentally Disordered Child

It has been claimed that mothers with certain hormonal imbalances and/or immunological disorders are more likely to give birth to male than female children and that they are more likely to give birth to a neurodevelopmentally disordered (ND) child. Liederman and Flannery (1995) reported that the sex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 1996-07, Vol.37 (5), p.621-623
Main Authors: Flannery, Kathleen A., Liederman, Jacqueline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Birth Rate
Births
Brain Damage, Chronic - epidemiology
Brain Damage, Chronic - etiology
Child
Child clinical studies
Child development
Child, Preschool
Children
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Developmental Disabilities - epidemiology
Developmental Disabilities - etiology
Developmental disorders
Family Characteristics
Female
gestational factors
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Intellectual Disability - epidemiology
Intellectual Disability - etiology
Male
Males
Medical sciences
mental retardation
Miscellaneous
Mothers
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Neurological disorders
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Risk Factors
Sex Ratio
Sex ratios
Siblings
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:It has been claimed that mothers with certain hormonal imbalances and/or immunological disorders are more likely to give birth to male than female children and that they are more likely to give birth to a neurodevelopmentally disordered (ND) child. Liederman and Flannery (1995) reported that the sex ratio of families with an index ND child did not significantly differ from the sex ratio of families without an index ND child. The data were derived from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP). James (in the current issue) challenged us to reconsider the standard against which we judged the sex ratio of siblings of ND children, since the 1.10 sex ratio that we obtained for the siblings of non‐ND children is much higher than the sex ratio of children born during that period according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the current paper, the NCPP data were re‐examined and it was demonstrated that the high sex ratio of siblings in our non‐ND sample was not due to various retention or recruitment biases. Thus, we suggest that use of the sex ratio of siblings of non‐ND children was the proper standard against which to judge the sex ratio of ND families, and that our data provide no evidence to support the notion that these families are male biased.
ISSN:0021-9630
1469-7610
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01450.x