Mummy’s boy and Daddy’s girl? No, it’s the other way round

It’S always been assumed that mothers are more likely to spoil their sons than their daughters.

But it seems the notion of being a Mummy’s boy or a Daddy’s girl is wide of the mark.

A study has shown 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 cash to the boys while mothers were more generous to the girls.

Research suggests that parents will be more benevolent to children of their own sex because they identify more with them. In the US study, more than 90 per cent of parents said they treated their children equally whatever their gender. But researchers found that most mothers and fathers unconsciously favoured the same sex – especially when it came to spending money.

In an experiment, adults with a son and a daughter were asked to buy a surprise gift for either. Mothers were more likely to choose something for their daughter, while fathers indulged a son.

Lambrianos Nikiforidis, an assistant professor of marketing at the State University of New York, Oneonta, said: ‘Although the idea that parents might play favourites is not new – we’ve all heard adages such as “like father, like son” or “Daddy’s girl” – most parents strongly deny favouring one child over the other.’

However, he added: ‘Even though parents say they do not have a favourite, they also admit they do not actively track investment in each child, which leaves room for bias.’ In one test, participants with a child of each gender were asked which youngster they would give a gift of around £20 to.

Most mothers favoured their girls, while fathers chose their sons. the same results were produced when the experiment was repeated in India to see if the phenomenon held true in other cultures. In another experiment, parents were given a raffle ticket and told they could use it to win a girl’s backpack, or a boy’s version.

Mothers chose the girl’s prize 75 per cent of the time, and fathers picked the boy’s one 87 per cent.

Study co-author Dr Kristina Durante, of Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, said: ‘the bias toward investing in samegendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons.’ She said the findings, published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, have implications for families with boys and girls.

She added: ‘If this gender bias influences decisions related to charitable giving, college savings, promotions and politics, then it can have profound implications and is something we can potentially correct going forward.’