ERIC Number: EJ683827
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Mar
Pages: 26
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7732
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Parental Status and Differential Investment in Sons and Daughters: Trivers-Willard Revisited
Hopcroft, Rosemary l.
Social Forces, v83 n3 p1111-1136 Mar 2005
According to the Trivers-Willard (T-W) hypothesis there is an interaction between individual status and investment in offspring such that high-status individuals invest more in boys, and low-status individuals invest more in girls. Parental investment may be both physiological and affect the sex ratio of offspring, or it may be psychological and affect resource allocation to offspring. I test both components of the hypothesis using cumulative U.S. General Social Survey (GSS) data and find results that support T-W. Using years of education attained as an indirect measure of parental investment, I find that sons of high-status fathers attain more education than daughters and that the daughters of low-status fathers attain more education than sons. Supporting the sex ratio component of T-W, I find that high-status men have more sons.
Descriptors: Resource Allocation, Parent Attitudes, Psychological Patterns, Parent Child Relationship, Gender Differences, Parents, Educational Attainment, Status, Income, African Americans
University of North Carolina Press, 116 South Boundary Street, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288. Tel: 919-966-3561; Fax: 919-966-3829.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A