A new study finds that mothers who were born in Canada but are of South Asian descent are giving birth to many more boys than girls – suggesting that some of them might be taking part in sex-selective abortion.

These latest findings come from the same group of researchers who reported in 2016 that more male babies than expected were being born to Indian-born women living in Ontario.

This latest study suggests the attitudes about gender and the value of boys persists among women of South Asian descent who are born in Canada.

Canadian women who are not of South Asian ethnicity tend to give birth to about 104 boys for every 100 girls. The 2016 study found that Indian-born women living in Ontario who already had two daughters were giving birth to many more boys than girls -- 196 boys for every 100 girls.

Those findings suggested that the practice of gender selection through abortion -- which is known to occur in India -- was also being practiced in Canada. In fact, that study found 326 boys were being born for every 100 girls to mothers who had two daughters and an abortion prior to the third birth.

The latest study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, shows the gender imbalance persists even for the next generation of mothers, those who have lived in Canada most of their lives.

The study compared more than 10,000 births to second-generation mothers of South Asian ethnicity against 36,000 births to first-generation mothers from South Asian countries. All the babies were born between 1993 and 2014.

Among the second-generation mothers who had two previous daughters and at least one prior abortion, 280 boys were born for every 100 girls. That was similar to the male-to-female ratio among first-generation mothers.

Among second-generation mothers with two previous daughters but with no prior abortion, the male-to-female ratio was not elevated.

And yet, first-generation mothers with two previous daughters and no reported abortions had 142 boys for every 100 girls. That skewed ratio suggests that while the women did not have a history of abortion, some may have simply gone abroad for a pregnancy termination.

The study was not designed to answer what was causing the gender imbalance. But lead author, Dr. Susitha Wanigaratne, a social epidemiologist and post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, suggests given the findings, interventions need to be taken to tackle son preference in South Asian families.

Those interventions need to involve education and be culturally acceptable and community-driven, she said.