Having Sons Rather Than Daughters May Accelerate Parents’ Cognitive Decline, New Study Suggests

Parents who have at least one son experience a faster decline in memory and thinking skills as they age compared to parents who only have daughters, according to a new study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Researchers led by Katrin Wolfova from Charles University in Prague and Columbia University analyzed data from 13,222 American adults aged 50 and older, finding that 82.3% of parents with sons showed accelerated cognitive aging over time.

The research challenges previous studies suggesting that having sons might benefit maternal health through biological mechanisms. Instead, the findings indicate that both mothers and fathers of sons face similar patterns of cognitive decline, suggesting social rather than biological factors may drive this relationship. According to the study, parents with multiple sons showed even faster cognitive decline compared to those with only daughters.

Why This Research Matters

This research is significant because it reveals how family composition may impact long-term brain health in both parents. With cognitive decline affecting millions of aging adults, understanding how factors like offspring sex composition contribute to this process could inform family planning decisions and highlight the importance of social support systems in later life.

Why Researchers Investigated Sons and Cognitive Health

Previous research has established connections between parenthood and long-term parental health outcomes, with studies showing that mothers and fathers of two children generally fare better than other groups in terms of mortality, cardiovascular health, and cognitive function.

However, recent studies have suggested that not just the number of children, but also their sex composition, might influence parental health.

The research question emerged from conflicting evidence about whether having sons versus daughters affects parental well-being. Some studies have suggested that having sons increases the risk of parental mortality. In contrast, others propose that male offspring may protect maternal brain health through a biological process known as microchimerism, in which fetal cells persist in maternal tissues. This study addressed a significant gap by examining both mothers and fathers while accounting for significant social and economic factors that previous research had overlooked.

Factors That May Accelerate Cognitive Decline in Parents of Sons

According to the study, several pathways could explain why having sons might accelerate parental cognitive decline. Social factors appear most significant, as daughters typically provide more emotional support and informal caregiving to aging parents than sons do. This difference in support could protect cognitive health through better management of chronic diseases and reduced depression.

The researchers note that parents of sons may face different stressors throughout the parenting experience. Sons generally require higher energy investment during pregnancy and infancy, with male newborns having higher average birth weights and longer intervals between subsequent births.

Additionally, gendered parenting behaviors may influence lifestyle factors differently – for example, mothers of daughters tend to maintain healthier weights and activity levels compared to mothers of sons.

How the Research Was Conducted

The researchers analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, an ongoing survey of more than 30,000 American adults aged 50 and older that began in 1992. The study included only participants with at least one child and at least two cognitive assessments, resulting in a final sample of 13,222 parents followed for up to 16 years.

Cognitive function was measured using four standardized tests: immediate and delayed recall of 10 words, serial subtraction, and backwards counting. Participants completed these assessments every two years, resulting in a total of 86,901 cognitive evaluations over the study period.

The researchers used statistical models that took into account participants’ baseline age, sex, race, education, number of children, and various health-related factors.

Importantly, this was an observational study that can only show associations, not prove that having sons directly causes cognitive decline. The study also could not distinguish between biological, adopted, and stepchildren, which may affect the interpretation of results related to pregnancy-specific biological mechanisms.

Sons Associated with Faster Cognitive Decline Across Multiple Measures

Parents with at least one son showed faster cognitive decline over time compared to parents with only daughters, according to the study’s primary analysis. This effect remained consistent even after accounting for sociodemographic factors like education, income, and health status.

The relationship became more pronounced with additional sons. Parents with three or more sons experienced the fastest cognitive decline, while those with only daughters maintained cognitive function better over time. Specifically, the study found that having sons was most strongly associated with a decline in memory-related tests—both immediate and delayed word recall—rather than other cognitive abilities, such as mathematical reasoning or attention.

Notably, having sons did not affect baseline cognitive function when participants entered the study, suggesting the effect accumulates over time rather than reflecting pre-existing differences. This pattern supports theories about social factors influencing cognitive aging rather than biological differences present from pregnancy.

The effect appeared similarly in both mothers and fathers, with mothers showing a decline rate of -0.014 points per year and fathers showing a decline rate of -0.016 points per year compared to parents with only daughters. While these numbers may seem small, they represent significant differences when accumulated over the course of decades of aging.

The researchers found that 43.9% of participants died during the follow-up period, but accounted for this in their statistical models to ensure that survival differences didn’t bias their results. Parents with multiple sons continued to show accelerated cognitive decline even when researchers excluded participants who developed dementia during the study.

What These Findings Mean

These results suggest that social aspects of parent-child relationships, rather than biological factors, may primarily drive the association between offspring sex and cognitive aging. The similar effects seen in both mothers and fathers support this interpretation, as biological pregnancy-related mechanisms would only affect mothers.

The findings have practical implications for understanding family dynamics and the aging process. Parents of sons may benefit from additional social support systems or interventions to maintain cognitive health, particularly given that daughters typically provide more caregiving assistance than sons as parents age.

However, the study has important limitations. Researchers could not distinguish between biological, adopted, and stepchildren, which may matter for pregnancy-related biological theories. The study also couldn’t account for all relevant factors, such as the quality of parent-child relationships, specific caregiving arrangements, or detailed measures of social support throughout participants’ lives. Additionally, the findings may not apply to populations with different cultural attitudes toward family roles and responsibilities.

Final Thoughts

The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research by Wolfova et al. (2022), provides new evidence that having sons may contribute to faster cognitive decline in both mothers and fathers. While the mechanisms remain unclear, the similar effects seen across both parents suggest that social rather than biological pathways may be most important.

This research raises important questions about how family composition affects long-term health outcomes and underscores the need for a deeper understanding of the social factors that protect cognitive function in aging.

Future studies should examine the specific aspects of parent-child relationships that contribute to these differences and develop interventions to support cognitive health across all family structures.


The study, “Sons and parental cognition in mid-life and older adulthood,” was authored by Katrin Wolfov, Di Wu, Jordan Weiss, Pavla Cermakova, Hans-Peter Kohler, Vegard Fykse Skirbekk, Yaakov Stern, Alison Gemmill, and Sarah E. Tomc.

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