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Study: Daughters affect dads' political leanings
OSU prof's research says that dads with daughters tend to lean toward political left
Rebecca Johnson
Issue date: 6/5/09 Section: News
A recent study coming out of Britain, which uses research done by an OSU professor, shows that fathers who have daughters are more likely to shift their political views to become more liberal.
The study was done by Andrew Oswald of University of Warwick and Dr. Nattavudh Pawdthavee of University of York and compared voting tendencies gathered from the British Household Panel Survey.
An excerpt from the study says, "We document evidence that having daughters leads people to be more sympathetic to left-wing parties. Giving birth to sons, by contrast, seems to make people more likely to vote for a right-wing party."
The study found that any child has the potential to shift a parent's ideology, but that the occurrence was more prevalent among fathers who have daughters.
The study did not focus on how having a child changed one's political view, but how the gender of a child affects those views.
The study concluded that it was not only the gender, but the number of children a person has that affects their stance. With the birth of each child, the study showed a 2 percent shift toward left-wing voting if the child is a girl, and 2 percent shift toward right-wing voting if the child is a boy.
OSU sociology professor Rebecca Warner, along with Yale University professor Ebonya Washington, contributed research on the gender of children and the affect it has on a parent's stance on political policy, specifically those concerning gender equality. The unpublished study of Warner is entitled "Children's Gender and Parents' Support for Gender Equity Public Policies."
Oswald and Pawdthavee also used past research of Warner's that supported their conclusion that the gender of a person's child does affect their political ideology.
"In remarkable research, the sociologist Rebecca Warner and the economist Ebonya Washington have shown that the gender of a person's children seems to influence the attitudes and actions of the parent," said an abstract from the study.
Findings show having a daughter not only affects the voting habits of the general male population, but those holding political office could also have their viewpoints swayed by becoming parents.
Washington looked at the voting records of U.S. congressmen and found those with daughters were more likely to sympathize with left-wing ideology.
According to the study done by Washington, "Conditional on total number of children, each daughter increases a congressman's propensity to vote liberally, especially on issues of reproductive rights."
Rebecca Johnson, senior reporter
news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231
The study was done by Andrew Oswald of University of Warwick and Dr. Nattavudh Pawdthavee of University of York and compared voting tendencies gathered from the British Household Panel Survey.
An excerpt from the study says, "We document evidence that having daughters leads people to be more sympathetic to left-wing parties. Giving birth to sons, by contrast, seems to make people more likely to vote for a right-wing party."
The study found that any child has the potential to shift a parent's ideology, but that the occurrence was more prevalent among fathers who have daughters.
The study did not focus on how having a child changed one's political view, but how the gender of a child affects those views.
The study concluded that it was not only the gender, but the number of children a person has that affects their stance. With the birth of each child, the study showed a 2 percent shift toward left-wing voting if the child is a girl, and 2 percent shift toward right-wing voting if the child is a boy.
OSU sociology professor Rebecca Warner, along with Yale University professor Ebonya Washington, contributed research on the gender of children and the affect it has on a parent's stance on political policy, specifically those concerning gender equality. The unpublished study of Warner is entitled "Children's Gender and Parents' Support for Gender Equity Public Policies."
Oswald and Pawdthavee also used past research of Warner's that supported their conclusion that the gender of a person's child does affect their political ideology.
"In remarkable research, the sociologist Rebecca Warner and the economist Ebonya Washington have shown that the gender of a person's children seems to influence the attitudes and actions of the parent," said an abstract from the study.
Findings show having a daughter not only affects the voting habits of the general male population, but those holding political office could also have their viewpoints swayed by becoming parents.
Washington looked at the voting records of U.S. congressmen and found those with daughters were more likely to sympathize with left-wing ideology.
According to the study done by Washington, "Conditional on total number of children, each daughter increases a congressman's propensity to vote liberally, especially on issues of reproductive rights."
Rebecca Johnson, senior reporter
news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
idril616
Donald Leith
posted 6/18/09 @ 7:29 PM PST
I think the last phrase of the article ( "...especially on issues of reproductive rights." ) gives us a hint as to why this is the case. In general, issues affecting women are more often than not "liberal" in nature. (Continued…)
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