Determining the impact of sex preferences on fertility: a demonstration study.

The stopping rule measure of sex preferences represents a combination of psychological measures of preference and behavioral intentions. This study of 172 college students demonstrates that the stopping rule measure is a useful and practical method of measuring sex preferences. The results further indicate that parity progression ratio measures inherently underestimate the effect of sex preferences on individual fertility because they incorrectly assume that sex preferences (a) are homogeneous within the population and (b) can only act to increase, not to decrease, fertility. Use of the stopping rule measure to predict the possible effects of sex preselection techniques on fertility is also discussed.