Parents of First-Born Baby Girls More Likely to Divorce: Study

In a study culled from the census data of three million American adults, University of California researchers claim that couples who want to stay married should hope that their first-born child wears blue, not pink.

"Fathers are significantly (three per cent) less likely to be living with their children if they have daughters versus sons," the researchers declared, no doubt indifferent to the controversy and therapist appointments that their findings will spark. "We estimate that in any given year, roughly 52,000 first-born daughters younger than 12 years (and all their siblings) would have had a resident father if they had been boys."

And if a couple had three daughters, the divorce rate jumped up 10% (take that, Mrs. Brady).

It doesn't stop there, though. The hits just keep on a-comin'.

The researchers pointed out that a bouncing baby boy does more than keep a greater number of marriages together. It also creates them in the first place, since more unmarried pregnant women choose wedlock once they know that their bundle in the oven is a he and not a she.

So what’s behind this trend? Susan Heitler, a clinical psychologist in Denver thinks it might be about role modeling. "One dynamic I've seen is that women don't want to put up with a controlling or abusive husband because they're afraid to model this as an acceptable form of marriage to their daughters," Heitler told ABC News. "There is a lot of individual variation, though; it could go both ways."

Other psychologists and experts share the view that "girls causing divorce" is really a smokescreen for "girls empowering mothers to divorce." They argue that, generally speaking, girls provide more social support to their mothers, which not only helps mothers leave a bad marriage, but helps them more ably cope with the stress of divorce -- and even dissuade them from remarrying for the sake of companionship (which they already have from their daughter/s).

Right now, it’s unclear what the implications of this study will be, or in what direction follow-up investigations will take. But one thing seems to be certain, though.

It sure does puts a whole new spin on the phrase family planning.