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Do you share a birthday month with your mom? According to a new study by Distinguished Professor Luisa N. Borrell, affiliated faculty member Francisco Bolúmar, and colleagues, you are not alone.
Previous research has shown that women’s season of birth somehow influences that of their children, but the reasons why have been unclear. Using data from all births that occurred in Spain during the years 1980–83 and 2016–19 and in France during 2000–03 and 2010–13, the researchers analyzed the possibility of transmission of birth season between generations, testing whether relatives tended to be born in the same season.
They found an association or similarity between parents’ and children’s birth seasons that partially explains the stability of seasonal birth patterns over time. The association also existed between parents’ birth seasons, which is explained by an excess of marriages with spouses born in the same month.
“Different socio-demographic groups show differentiated birth patterns, and relatives share sociodemographic features,” Borrell explains. “Birth season seems to be related to family characteristics, which should be controlled for when assessing birth-month effects on subsequent social/health outcomes.”
The study contributes significantly to research on the social and biological dynamics underlying birth seasonality by unravelling an association that can only be uncovered using large microdata sets.
