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Birth Order and Biological Differences

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Birth Order
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Abstract

Sex ratio by birth order may vary for biological or psychological reasons. Teitelbaum (1970), analyzing all USA births in 1955, found that beginning with birth order 6 there was a small but consistent underrepresentation of male births in comparison with firstborns. There is some evidence that the reduced frequency of male births is correlated with lower social class. Male pregnancies may be more affected by adverse circumstances than female pregnancies and/or there may be antibody formation against the male fetus.

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© 1983 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ernst, C., Angst, J. (1983). Birth Order and Biological Differences. In: Birth Order. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68399-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68399-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-68401-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-68399-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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