Favourites in families

THE notion of a mummy’s boy or a daddy’s girl is wide of the mark, a study shows.

Women are more likely to buy presents for their daughters, while men tend to favour their sons. And when asked who they would give money to in their will, fathers gave more to the boys while mothers were more generous to the girls.

The US research, published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, suggests parents will be more benevolent to children of their own gender because they identify more with them. More than 90 per cent of parents in the US study said they treated their children equally.

But researchers found most mothers and fathers unconsciously favoured the same sex.