# Sex of Third and Subsequent Kids: A Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516 "2009-07-28T02:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/1 "2009-07-28T02:29:20Z")
This is a spinoff from [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=526096) There doesn’t seem to be any online data regarding predispositions in a family one way or another towards girls or boys. And I find the question interesting enough to do a little statistical sampling of my own. So here’s the poll: [ul] [li]think of all the families you know with 3 or more kids, born to the same 2 parents.[/li][li]Throw out all cases where you don’t know all ages and sexes, or where the first two are different sexes (keep in cases like BBGB or GGGBG)[/li][li]List the rest. Just for extra interest, bold your and/or partners birth family, and italicise family of which you are a parent, if relevant.[/li][/ul] If there are enough responses, I’ll do some analysis after a while and see if we come up with anything interesting. Here goes me: _GGB_ BBB GGG GGG GGGB BBBB BBG BBGB BBBBB GGGG GGGGG GGG GGG GGB GGB ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/2 "2009-07-28T02:31:54Z")
This won’t be a random sample, so you can’t draw any inferences about the general population from it. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/3 "2009-07-28T03:31:21Z")
In what direction do you think it will be biased? And why? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/4 "2009-07-28T03:45:20Z")
any letters unseperated are twins G|G|B B|B|B B|B|G G|G|B|G|G|G G|B|G G|B|B G|G|GG G|B|GB B|B|G G|B|B G|B|B ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/5 "2009-07-28T03:45:43Z")
**ggb bbbgbb** ggb bbg bbgb ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/6 "2009-07-28T03:48:03Z")
“Sex of Third” was my Borg name. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/7 "2009-07-28T04:00:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Throw out all cases where you don’t know all ages and sexes, **or where the first two are different sexes** (keep in cases like BBGB or GGGBG) Maybe I’m missing something, but if you throw out those cases don’t you kind of ruin the results? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/8 "2009-07-28T04:32:32Z")
g/g/g/g b/b/b b/b/g/b g/g/g/b/g/g/g/b ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/9 "2009-07-28T05:01:47Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Maybe I’m missing something, but if you throw out those cases don’t you kind of ruin the results? If you look at the original GQ thread, the question is what the probability of having a specific sex child are if you already have two of the same sex ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/10 "2009-07-28T05:15:51Z")
I know a bunch of 3+ families (sometimes +++). Many of these are from my mom’s family - has twelve siblings (the top list), who average nearly six kids apiece plus many grandkids - so this is in no way a random sample. The 172 direct biological descendants of my grandparents whose gender I can think of (I’m a little hazy with about five of my cousins’ kids, and I’m leaving out the adoptees and stepkids) are 52.9% male, 47.1% female. None of these are my or my husband’s immediate family, and we have no kids as yet. The requirements exclude a bunch of heavily-weighted-towards-one-gender families that I know, such as that of a former roommate who was the eldest child of eight, and the only girl. GGBBGBBBBBGGB BBB BBGGGGG BBB BBG BBB GGGB BBB GGB GGBBBGGGBGGB BBGGBBG BBBBBG GGGBBGB GGBBGBBBBBGGB GGGG BBBBB GGG BBG BBBGG GGG BBB GGGG GGGB GGB BBGB BBG GGB BBB GGGB GGG BBBB BBGG GGB BBB BBBB I could probably go on, but that’s enough for now. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/11 "2009-07-28T05:22:29Z")
_BBBB_ GGG GGGGB BBB BBB BBBG BBBB BBGB GGB My husband and I are onlies but I have 12 cousins. Two of them are girls. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/12 "2009-07-28T12:31:25Z")
GGBG GGBG BBB BBG GGB BBB BBBBB That’s all I can think of right now. I know some bigger families, but I have no idea in what order they were born ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/13 "2009-07-28T12:38:27Z")
My children: BBGGB (Girl 2 was stillborn - does that count?) A neighbour’s family: GGGB ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/14 "2009-07-28T12:45:14Z")
BBBBBBBB (Eight boys for my cousin) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/15 "2009-07-28T13:09:33Z")
My kids went B B G ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/16 "2009-07-28T13:23:55Z")
What’s wrong with those where the first two are different genders, why throw out all those? Is it “just” to shrink the sample? To me, it appears to be skewing it as well. Even if the original question was about third child gender with two repeats, we’re throwing out the “GBBBBB” cases. BBBB GGGGGGGGGGBB – she had a lot of abortions between 6 and 7, no idea of genders GGGGB BBBBG BBB – if you add the stillborn girls, it becomes GBBGB BBB BBGG BBBGBBBBBG GGG GGGGB Those are the ones I can remember with 100% certainty off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/17 "2009-07-28T14:06:53Z")
Bbg ggbb ggbb ggg ggg bbg bbg ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/18 "2009-07-28T14:11:02Z")
ggb bgg bbb gbb bgb ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/19 "2009-07-28T14:21:24Z")
Ggg bbbbbb bbggbbggbbgg ggb bbb bgbbbgb gbg bbb ---
**Author:** ![Morgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Morgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgis)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516/20 "2009-07-28T14:29:28Z")
**ggg** bbbg bbgb ggggb [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-of-third-and-subsequent-kids-a-poll/504516.md?page=2)