Who are these parents who don’t want to know the gender of their baby before birth?

Girl or boy? It is usually in the second trimester that the sonographer can reliably tell the sex of the unborn child. While this step is essential for most parents and has been celebrated with great fanfare in recent years, 1 in 10 couples refuse to adhere to this standard, we learn from a study published this Wednesday, December 20. Population and Societies, INSEE newsletter (1). To better understand them, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Research studied their profile and provided the various factors that might have led them to make this choice.

The question of origin

The first observation of the researchers, the decision whether or not to know the gender of your future child depends on the configuration of the original family. Being parents for the second or third time slightly reduces the desire for this information (90% of interested parents) compared to a young couple under 30 who is expecting a child for the first time (92.5%).

In established families, the gender of the elders can also influence whether or not to keep the surprise until the big day. For example, if the tribe already consists of a boy and a girl, the desire to know in advance the gender of the child, and therefore the preference of one gender over the other, will be felt less than in a single family.

More educated and more pious parents

The motivation of parents to find out the sex of the child in advance also depends on certain socio-economic factors. According to INSEE, the most educated fathers and mothers are the ones who give the least preference to the sex of the future child and least ask to know it during pregnancy. For example, 65% of women with a Bac + 5 say they are indifferent to these issues, compared to 48% of those with less qualifications. According to the study’s authors, this particular variation may be due to “social differences, particularly in relation to the medicalization of pregnancy, the tendency to resist dominant social norms, the search for distinctive practices, or even the tolerance of uncertainty.” And this hypothesis is confirmed during the preparations for welcoming the unborn child. Among the more educated couples, the researchers note a tendency to show relative distance from many social instructions regarding the gender of the infant’s environment.

Religious practices may also influence some parents to be less demanding about information about the gender of their unborn child. 86% of working mothers who regularly attend religious services (fathers are less concerned) are significantly less likely than others to ask to know the gender during pregnancy (compared to those who never attend).

Less favorable medical circumstances

Finally, in its conclusions, INSEE also questions the conditions of access to information on the pregnancy and, therefore, the sex of the fetus. While at least seven prenatal visits and three ultrasounds are recommended before delivery, only 65% ​​of women in the sample had eight or more medical appointments and 64% had more than three ultrasounds. The more these consultations take place, the more chances there are to find out the sex of your future baby, researchers say, especially in the case of a medical problem.

The choice of the practitioner responsible for monitoring the pregnancy also affects the possibility of knowing the sex of the baby. Couples who consult an obstetric specialist (gynaecologist, obstetrician, midwife) are therefore slightly more likely to consult a general practitioner (91% vs. 86%). According to INSEE, this situation can be explained by the desire of patients for less medical monitoring, but also with more limited equipment among general practitioners who do not have, for example, an ultrasound machine, which will further limit the possibility of asking your doctor if you are expecting a boy or girl

(1) This survey is based on the French Longitudinal Study of Childhood (Elfe), which was conducted among 18,300 families who had a child in 2011 and then followed periodically until their child reached adulthood.