Jim, you have a daughter, right?

[Gob]

As any parent will tell you, having a child changes your life. But can it also change your politics? According to recent study, having a daughter could make you more conservative.

Sociologists Dalton Conley and Emily Rauscher report that "parents with all daughters are 14% less likely to identify as a Democrat … [and] 11% more likely to identify as a Republican than parents with no daughters".

Not only that, but the better educated and wealthier you are, the more pronounced this effect is.

But what do these numbers mean? The New York Times' Ross Douthat has a theory: it's because parents are thinking about their daughters' "future happiness" - and possible heartbreak at the hands of men like Nathaniel P.

In case you're wondering, Nathaniel P isn't a real person. He's a character in Adelle Waldman's first novel, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

"He's not the worst sort of guy by any means - not a toxic bachelor or an obnoxious pick-up artist," Douthat writes. "He's well intentioned, sensitive, mildly idealistic. Yet he's also a source of immense misery - both short-term and potentially lifelong - for the young women in his circle."

Douthat says the story of Nathaniel P points to the existence of a "romantic culture" where "sex has been decoupled from marriage but biology hasn't been abolished, which means women still operate on a shorter time horizon for crucial life choices - marriage, kids - than do men". Men take advantage of this "social landscape" for easy sex, while women worry about finding a committed, long-term mate.


continues...

[Lord Jim]

That's funny...

As I've said before, I was more Conservative when I was in College then I am now, and I've never been a "social conservative"...

In fact having a daughter has probably made me more of a "feminist" than I otherwise would be..

(I'm sure I wouldn't be as pissed off about the shortage of historical role models for girls in biographical literature as I am if I didn't have a daughter...(hell, I probably wouldn't even be aware of it... )

There is however, one way in which I have become more conservative...

I have become a lot more conservative, (in fact downright fascist) in my views about how teenage girls should be dealing with teenage boys then when I was a teenage boy...

So if that represents an increase in Conservatism, I stand guilty as charged...

[Gob]

In fact having a daughter has probably made me more of a "feminist" than I otherwise would be..

Was it possible for you to be less?

[Lord Jim]

Was it possible for you to be less?

Not really...

When I was in high school and college, my own mother told me on more than one occasion that she thought I was a "male chauvanist pig"... (a phrase popular at the time... ) based on the opinions I expressed..

[oldr_n_wsr]

I was a very bad person toward women in my teens and early 20's.
There are more than a few on my 8th step list. My sponsor has advised me not to contact them for the express purpose of making amends. If I happen to run across them, I should see how things play out.

[Big RR]

Interesting; based on this logic, if I didn't have my two daughters I'd probably be standing out on the streets screaming and handing out Socialist Workers Party literature.

[MajGenl.Meade]

So you've cut out the screaming then?

[Big RR]

I'm working on it.

[Guinevere]

I read this when it came out, and call BS. Most of the parents of daughters I know are pretty liberal and devoted feminists. Even my parents became more liberal and feminist with daughters. I mean, imagine having an outspoken political daughter who becomes a lawyer ... You see things differently for sure

[Beer Sponge]

Guin, you called?

[Gob]

I mean, imagine having an outspoken political daughter who becomes a lawyer ...

The horror....the horror.....

[oldr_n_wsr]

It appears my daughter has a boyfriend. Not that she hasn't had boyfriends before, but this relationship seems serious. My kids have a low bullshit tolerance so they have been "picky" with their partners.
I was going to be cleaning the shotgun when I met him, but sighting in the crossbow was enough. With that projectiles actually go down range.

[dgs49]

So we have the results of what appears to be a reputable study, and the rebuttal is that we know a couple people whose politics run contrary to the findings?

That does it for me. The study must be bullshit.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Dave, see the OP.

"Sociologists"....bit of a giveaway I thought.

[Big RR]

Well, people can either buy the conclusions or not, but my personal experience doesn't bear the theory out and I see nothing presented in the article that changes that conclusion. Maybe there is a journal article somewhere that presents real data (and is subject to peer review also), but there's nothing of the sort in the article.

why do you assume it's correct?

[Joe Guy]

FWIW - the OP also says "Parents with all daughters." So having one daughter or having a son in addition to a daughter wouldn't count...