Pregnant women's social status, stress, self-esteem, and their infants' sex ratio at birth

A reported association of social status of parents with infants' sex ratio at birth and of psychological stress (score on Beck Depression Inventory) with sex ratio were not supported by our analysis, but the possibility of an association between scores on the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale and sex ratio at birth for a sample of 385 pregnant women showed that women who have given birth to boys scored lower on self-esteem during pregnancy than those who have given birth to girls. Some explanations are reviewed to discuss this unforeseen association.