Why Boys With Sisters Are More Likely To Be Republicans

[Hygro]

The study specifically mentions that numerous other studies discussed the role of parents in shaping the politics of their children. But this is apparently the first study which tried to assess the role of siblings in determining their political outlook.

But it doesn't discount the role of parents in doing so, unless I'm assuming too much (little) of the study. As in, the known variable is siblings, but the uncontrolled variable is a change in parental behavior because there are girls, and the effects that parental effect has on the boys witnessing it.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Unless someone can point to where they controlled for all that this study is basically BS. Btw they never said anything about seeing women as inferior, that's an interesting read in by some and telling as its not supported by the OP article.

I thought the tongue-in-cheek nature of my post was apparent. Apologies.

 

[Patroklos]

That was more for Forma.

 

[Crezth]

Three brothers, no sisters. Suck it, sociologists.

Yeah, I have a sister, yet I'm not a republican. What gives, science?

Bad thread, I'm rating it 1/5.

 

[BvBPL]

The study makes sense. Assignment of female-orientated house work to young women instead of their male peers serves to crystalize gender roles, and the role of men is more strongly tied to GOP values than Democrat ones. This demonstrates the on going need to continually research domestic labor and housework.

I do not think that the sociologically community satisfactorily accounts for traditional male domestic labor, that is I think most sociological work in this arena underreports how much labor men put into the household. That said, most male orientated chores require higher levels of skill than female orientated work. For example, you may let a six year old wash the dishes, but not mow the lawn. If this is accurate, then children may only perform male orientated work at a later age, after their interpretation of gender roles has crystalized, at least to some extent.

 

[Patroklos]

The problem is that the study didn't control for any other variables and did not account for an obvious follow up question. If he boys are being raised in a household that holds females to traditional gender rolls are they not also holding males to the same? Why would a belief in such roles follow from observing females rather from their own personal experiace with role assignment?

 

[Formaldehyde]

But it doesn't discount the role of parents in doing so, unless I'm assuming too much (little) of the study. As in, the known variable is siblings, but the uncontrolled variable is a change in parental behavior because there are girls, and the effects that parental effect has on the boys witnessing it.

Perhaps that is why I even brought it up in the OP? That this effect might be offset to some extent by having the males help mom?

That was more for Forma.

The study makes it quite clear that they were interested in when they "grow up" together. It is even bolded twice in the parts I posted in the OP.

If you bothered to read the entire paper, you would also come across this paragraph:

For the first set of analyses that follow, we use the four-wave PSP. The four waves were conducted in 1965, 1973, 1982, and 1997. In the first wave, most subjects were in their senior year of high school; 98.5% of the sample was between 17 and 19 years old. By 1997, most of the respondents were about 50 years old. The dataset has detailed family information, including the gender and age of a respondent’s siblings. These data thus provide the share of a respondent’s siblings who are sisters and the quasi-random indicator for the younger sibling being a sister. Since our empirical strategy is based on the random assignment of younger sibling gender, our estimation sample consists of survey respondents who had at least one younger sibling.

You seem to think you have a great deal of expertise in how sociological studies are conducted for them to be valid. I suggest you take it up with the authors. I'm sure they will be quite interested in how you personally think it might not have been properly "controlled".

 

[BvBPL]

I suggest you take it up with the authors. I'm sure they will be quite interested in how you personally think it might not have been properly "controlled".

I wouldn't want that suggestion to come at the detriment of explaining the same concerns here.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I really don't care what he posts in this thread or any other. But it is certainly not "for" me in this particular case. I don't even know the authors, much less was intimately involved in their study.

However, as the part I posted above stated, they did indeed take into consideration when the siblings were not near each other in age. But I have no idea what their cutoff point was.

Besides, many families tend to have a fairly close grouping in the age of siblings. It is typically only in families that don't use contraceptives or vehemently oppose abortion that you find wide disparities in age. A lot of parents heavily plan and control when they have children.

Dwelling on exceptions is hardly important when their study likely involved sufficient numbers to make them meaningless even if they were included in the data set. I also assume it will be peer-reviewed if it hasn't already.

As you pointed out, I think the study does indeed "make sense". It isn't terribly surprising to me that having sisters and the assignment of gender-specific roles as a result would have an influence on their politics later in life in this regard. But it has now been quantified at least to some extent.

 

[Leonel]

It's true! I had two little sisters and I was crazy-conservative half way through my CivFanatics career! Then I got a job and managed to crawl my way out of that hold.

 

[warpus]

I have two sisters, no brothers, and my parents' dog turned out Republican. He is very conservative.

 

[Arwon]

According to the study, growing up with a sister or not doing stereotypical female chores doesn't mean you are going to be a conservative. It means that you are more likely to be one than someone who didn't.

Which are the stereotypical chores?

 

[AlpsStranger]

What does it mean if I'm a moderate/apolitical, one of my sisters is liberal, and one of my sisters is conservative?

EDIT: I realize I wasn't always a moderate, but that's definitely how I ended up. I don't expect that I'll be able to return to my former political alignment this lifetime to be honest. There's just too much I don't/no longer agree with on the left at this point.

 

[Hygro]

At first I thought you were all joking, but now there's so many of you saying you have sisters and aren't conservative I'm getting worried that the lot of you are actually saying your individual contrast to this probably subtle trend disproves the study.

Please tell me you're all being tongue-in-cheek

 

[AlpsStranger]

Huh? No, it doesn't disprove the trend at all. These are just anecdotes.

You'll find, however, that nearly everyone of any political persuasion will use an anecdote they like to counter data they don't. Treating exceptions as rules is hardly exclusive to any one agenda.

 

[asbestos]

Why is dish washing the mechanism, and not sibling rivalry or some such?

Apparently, I also buck the trend.

 

[classical_hero]

I also buck the trend. I only have a brother and I am very much conservative.

This is a rather sexist study, since they aren't concerned about the females in the family.

 

[timtofly]

Which are the stereotypical chores?

Perhaps only conservatives do chores?

 

[Traitorfish]

Three brothers, no sisters. Suck it, sociologists.

Four sisters, no brothers.



edit:

At first I thought you were all joking, but now there's so many of you saying you have sisters and aren't conservative I'm getting worried that the lot of you are actually saying your individual contrast to this probably subtle trend disproves the study.

Please tell me you're all being tongue-in-cheek

I read it more as questioning how consequential this trend is at a personal level, because this trends only appears at a very general, statistical level. People aren't saying "this isn't true" so as much "why should we care"?

 

[Formaldehyde]

At first I thought you were all joking, but now there's so many of you saying you have sisters and aren't conservative I'm getting worried that the lot of you are actually saying your individual contrast to this probably subtle trend disproves the study.

Please tell me you're all being tongue-in-cheek

And according to the study, it isn't all that subtle. It is fairly pronounced.

we estimate that male respondents who grew up with only sisters are up to a full category more conservative on gender roles on a 7-point scale

Which are the stereotypical chores?

Are you really serious?

Doing the dishes, washing and mending clothes, and making dinner are examples of stereotypical female chores. Washing the car, taking out the garbage, and mowing the lawn would be stereotypical male ones.