A Statistical Study of Sex Ratio Data from a Sample of Students at Western Kentucky University

• Main Author: Loyd, Robert
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 1969
• Subjects: Agriculture; Life Sciences
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2550; https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3555&context=theses

Information on family size, sex ratio, and sex by order of birth was obtained from a sample of students at Western Kentucky University during the 1968-69 school year. Participants were white Americans coming primarily from Central Kentucky. Data were obtained on the immediate, maternal, and paternal families from 1,018 students. Sex ratios for the immediate and parental generations were 101.2 and 103.3, respectively. The overall sex ratio for the study was 102.7. These ratios did not differ significantly from he reported secondary sex ratio of 106 in the United States. Correlation coefficients were computed between the sexes of various children within families for the immediate generation. A significant positive correlation was found between the sex of child one and two in families of two or more children. The overall correlation between sexes in successive births was also significant. Correlation coefficients between the sexes of children separated by one, two, or three births were not significant. For complete families of size two, a negative correlation existed between the sexes. This correlation indicated that more families stopped having children when ii both sexes were present in their offspring. The observed combination of sexes within each family did not differ significantly from the expected.