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Couples that have daughters are more likely to find themselves divorced according to the results of a study conducted by scientists at Duke University, North Carolina. Whilst this pattern has been identified previously – with many arguing that this is proof of the fact that men prefer sons – however, this study produced a very different explanation for this trend. The scientists involved in the study have discovered that female embryos are more resilient than male embryos and are therefore more likely to survive stressful pregnancies. Researchers have also noted that, should a mother find herself in an unsatisfactory relationship, that she is likely to produce a larger amount of the stress hormone cortisol. This, in turn, can affect an embryo but, as female embryos are more resistant , they are more likely to survive. Researchers therefore proposed that girls are simply more likely to be born to couples whose relationships are already troubled. The study also revealed that couples that had stated that they had experienced problems within their relationship were also more likely to have daughters in the years that followed. In order to conduct their study, researchers relied on longitudinal data gleaned from a sample of American citizens from 1979 to 2010. The study’s authors also concluded that, as a result of their findings, it may be worth conducting further studies in order to determine how such circumstances affect outcome other than divorce.