Social and Demographic Dimensions of Sex Selection Technologies: Review and Analysis of the Research Literature

Abstract

Using the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, we analytically reviewed existing research from the past 30 years on the social and demographic dimensions of sex selection technologies. Through content analysis and bibliometric analysis, we investigated publications in four categories: description, attitudes, demographics, and policy. Our results leave little doubt that individual choices and, in some instances, public policies have the potential to bring about significant social and demographic changes on local, national, and international levels. More research is warranted on the causal variables that underlie the individual and policy decisions that are associated with sex selection technologies.

[Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Biodemography and Social Biology for the following free supplemental resource(s): Sex Selection References for all references reviewed in both the content analysis and the bibliometric analysis not otherwise listed in the References section]

Notes

¹The 330 articles in our database can be found in the supplementary file in the publisher's online edition of Biodemography and Social Biology.

²The data to which the numbers in the circles refer are available in the supplementary file in the publisher's online edition of Biodemography and Social Biology.