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TLDR: A survey asked respondents over time both "have you ever been pregnant" and "have you had vaginal intercourse" and some percentage, especially of young pe

TLDR: A survey asked respondents over time both "have you ever been pregnant" and "have you had vaginal intercourse" and some percentage, especially of young people said "yes" to pregnant and "no" to having had intercourse which is confusing. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any legitimate follow up to validate that "having been pregnant" translated to actually giving birth (which to be fair, it often doesn't in the case of miscarriage or abortion), so it's imposisble to validate, but I'm especially skeptical given that when they asked the sex of these "virgins" children, and 60% of the respondents claimed to give birth to a boy. Which seems unrealistic by the odds. Anyhow, I remember taking "health" surveys in middle school, and I can say honestly, that many kids lie on those in the most absurd ways possible, especially after they tell them it's confidential. I sure did because I was immature and thought it would be hilarious if the survey taker thought 13 year-olds were doing hard drugs daily. I really doubt this is anything more than that.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
and 60% of the respondents claimed to give birth to a boy. Which seems unrealistic by the odds. Actually, that detail isn't so wild. More boys are born than girls to begin with and 60 percent isn't crazy out of line, statistically speaking. I would be with you if 100 percent claimed it was a boy or even, say, 90 percent. But 60 percent is not actually some wildly out of line statistic.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  Yeah, I looked it up and the average in developed countries seems to be 51%ish give birth to boys. I briefly tried to find if there was a correlation between younger mother age and likelihood of having a boy, and couldn't find any good info to support a difference. But with a sample size of 45 virgins, I agree it's within the margin of error, it's just weird. My personal theory was that it corresponded with societal preferences for male children. Ie, if someone was lying, they just say the gender of the child that they would prefer, and more people prefer male children. But then I researched how strong societal preference really is towards male children, and the studies seems inconclusive, so doesn't seem like a theory worth floating legitimately.
  - DoreenMichele 8y ago
    My recollection is that if the first born is male, a married couple is statistically less likely to divorce. So first born females are more likely to be only children or at least not have any full-blooded siblings. I've had conversations with my sons about this. Men seem to want one girl and one boy. Women tend to care less about the gender of their children. My oldest son has suggested this likely reflects a desire to pass on both genes. The way that happens is impacted by the gender of the offspring for men, but not for women. That's all I know about gender preference in offspring and seems irrelevant to the problem space in question.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

and 60% of the respondents claimed to give birth to a boy. Which seems unrealistic by the odds. Actually, that detail isn't so wild. More boys are born than girls to begin with and 60 percent isn't crazy out of line, statistically speaking. I would be with you if 100 percent claimed it was a boy or even, say, 90 percent. But 60 percent is not actually some wildly out of line statistic.

sudosteph 8y ago
Yeah, I looked it up and the average in developed countries seems to be 51%ish give birth to boys. I briefly tried to find if there was a correlation between younger mother age and likelihood of having a boy, and couldn't find any good info to support a difference. But with a sample size of 45 virgins, I agree it's within the margin of error, it's just weird. My personal theory was that it corresponded with societal preferences for male children. Ie, if someone was lying, they just say the gender of the child that they would prefer, and more people prefer male children. But then I researched how strong societal preference really is towards male children, and the studies seems inconclusive, so doesn't seem like a theory worth floating legitimately.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  My recollection is that if the first born is male, a married couple is statistically less likely to divorce. So first born females are more likely to be only children or at least not have any full-blooded siblings. I've had conversations with my sons about this. Men seem to want one girl and one boy. Women tend to care less about the gender of their children. My oldest son has suggested this likely reflects a desire to pass on both genes. The way that happens is impacted by the gender of the offspring for men, but not for women. That's all I know about gender preference in offspring and seems irrelevant to the problem space in question.