PRENATAL GENDER PREFERENCE OF MOTHERS OF FEMININE AND MASCULINE BOYS - RELATION TO SIBLING SEX COMPOSITION AND BIRTH-ORDER

A mother's (prenatal) wish for a girl has, at times, been implicated a s an etiological factor for boyhood femininity or its DSM-III-R diagno stic equivalent, the Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood. In one sam ple of 52 feminine and 52 nonclinical control boys from Los Angeles, t he proportion of mothers who recalled a wish for a girl during the pre gnancy did not differ significantly between groups (26.9% vs. 19.2%, r espectively); however, in both groups, the maternal wish for a girl wa s significantly more common in sibships in which all of the proband's older siblings were male. In a second sample of 103 feminine boys from Toronto, the maternal wish for a girl was significantly higher than t hat found in the Los Angeles sample (43.7% vs. 26.9%), but a control g roup was not available; as in the Los Angeles sample, the maternal wis h for a girl was significantly more common in sibships in which all of the proband's older siblings were male. Implications of these finding s for further study of maternal influences on boyhood femininity are d iscussed.