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Afunts G, Jurajda S. Who Divorces Whom: Unilateral Divorce Legislation and the Educational Structure of Marriage. Demography 2024; 61:1097-1116. [PMID: 39012245 DOI: 10.1215/00703370-11462868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/17/2024]
Abstract
The introduction of unilateral divorce legislation (UDL) starting in the late 1960s led to spikes in U.S. divorce rates. We ask whether making divorce easier affected the educational structure of marriage. Using marriage and divorce certificate data covering 1970-1988, we provide new evidence on the evolution of the educational structure of marriage inflows (newlyweds) and outflows (divorces). Next, we leverage the timing of UDL introduction across states to estimate its effects on both flows. We find that UDL affected the educational structure of divorce but not of new marriages: it made generally unstable hypogamous couples (women married to less educated partners) less likely to divorce and made homogamous couples more stable than hypergamous ones (women married to more educated partners).
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Affiliation(s)
- Geghetsik Afunts
- Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Stepan Jurajda
- Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education-Economics Institute,17 Prague, Czech Republic
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Uggla C, Saarela J. First Partner Choice in a Native Minority: The Role of Own and Parental Ethnolinguistic Affiliation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION = REVUE EUROPEENNE DE DEMOGRAPHIE 2024; 40:3. [PMID: 38227147 DOI: 10.1007/s10680-023-09683-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
Despite increasing diversity within many societies, ethnically endogamous unions remain common. In contexts where one ethnic minority has lived alongside the majority for centuries, understanding who partners with whom is central to understanding how ethnic boundaries are maintained or dissolved. This study examines the role of own and parental ethnolinguistic affiliation for the first partner choice in Finland. We provide a unique test of the relevance of ethnic endogamy across two generations, in a context where both groups are native, but one (Finnish speakers) overwhelmingly outnumbers the other (Swedish speakers). Using register data on the total population, we examine how a person's ethnolinguistic affiliation and background affect the choice of the first cohabiting partner in terms of the partner's ethnolinguistic affiliation and background. We apply discrete-time competing risk models for men and women born 1970-1983. Results indicate that Swedish-registered individuals with two Swedish-registered parents are, by far, the most likely to partner with another Swedish-registered person with endogamous background. Partnering with a Swedish-registered person with exogamous background is most likely among individuals who themselves come from mixed unions. Patterns are remarkably consistent across gender, and adjustments for education and residential area only marginally alter the results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Uggla
- Demography Unit, Department of Sociology, Stockholm Univeristy, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Åbo Akademi, Vasa, Finland.
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Di Nallo A, Ivanova K, Balbo N. Repartnering of women in the United States: The interplay between motherhood and socio-economic status. POPULATION STUDIES 2023; 77:399-416. [PMID: 36617422 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2022.2152478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
We examine the socio-economic differentials in mothers' and non-mothers' repartnering behaviours following the dissolution of a co-residential (marital or cohabiting) union. Based on five waves of the National Survey of Family Growth (N = 11,479), we use discrete-time event history models, jointly modelling exit from a partnership and entry into a new union. Few differences are found for entry into direct marriage, which is a rarely observed event. However, when we examine women's entry into cohabitation (a possible stepping stone to marriage), we observe: (1) a motherhood gap, where mothers are less likely to repartner than non-mothers; (2) a negative association between educational attainment and repartnering probability; and (3) the motherhood gap existing only for low-educated women. Supplementary analyses on the impact of the Great Recession demonstrate that whereas the economic cycle mattered for the repartnering of low-educated women, it made no difference for more highly educated women.
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Anyawie M, Lichter DT. Children of immigrants: Racial assortative mating and the transition to adulthood. POPULATION STUDIES 2023; 77:291-309. [PMID: 36822228 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2023.2174268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Few studies have followed immigrant-origin individuals from adolescence to adulthood or examined their spousal choices. Using longitudinal data from Add Health, we present a life-course model that examines the differences in racial assortative mating between children of immigrants and non-immigrants. The results reveal substantial variation in racial endogamy from generation to generation. Racial endogamy was highest in the third generation, but this is due entirely to high racial endogamy among whites. Out-marriage was most pronounced among first- and second-generation immigrants. Our life-course approach shows that the effects of race and generation on intermarriage were mediated by family background (e.g. language proficiency and residence) and educational attainment (at time of marriage), a finding largely indicative of processes of marital assimilation that unfold over time and generation. Evidence of acculturation and structural assimilation, however, could not fully account for the large, persistent, and uneven effects of race and generation on interracial marriage.
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Hossain B, James KS. Association between poor self-reported health and unmarried status among adults: examining the hypothesis of marriage protection and marriage selection in the Indian context. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:1797. [PMID: 36138371 PMCID: PMC9494833 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14170-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The link between marital status and health differences has long been a topic of debate. The substantial research on marriage and health has been conducted under two important hypotheses: marital protection and marriage selection. While the majority of evidence on the marriage-health relationship using these hypotheses comes from developed countries, there is a lack of evidence from Asia, particularly from India. Objectives The current study examines theoretical frameworks of marriage i.e., marital protection and marriage selection in the Indian setting concurrently, bringing substantial empirical evidence to explore the link between marriage and health, considering this subject in the context of self-reported health (SRH). Secondly, this study will aid in investigating age and gender differences in marriage and health. Methods Using the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE), a cohort study of individuals aged 50 years and older with a small section of individuals aged 18 to 49 for comparative reasons, the present study population was 25 years and above individuals with complete marital information. Logistic regressions were employed to explore the connection between marital status and self-reported health. In the marriage protection hypothesis, the follow-up poor SRH was the dependent variable, whereas the initial unmarried status was the independent variable. For the marriage selection effects, initial poor SRH as the independent variable and follow-up unmarried status as the dependent variable had considered. Results Examining the marital protection hypothesis, the initial unmarried status (OR: 2.14; CI at 95%: 1.17, 3.92) was associated with the followed-up SRH transition from good to poor between 2007 and 2015 for young men, while initial unmarried status was linked with a lower likelihood of stable good SRH and a higher likelihood of stable poor SRH status across all age categories among women. Focusing on the marriage selection hypothesis, among young men, a significant association exists between the initial poor SRH and departure in marital status from married to unmarried. Young women with initial poor SRH (OR: 0.68; CI at 95%: 0.40, 1.00) had lower odds of stable married. In comparison, women with initially poor SRH, irrespective of age, were more likely to have higher odds of being stably unmarried. Conclusion Marriage indeed protects health. There are also shreds of evidence on health-selected marital status in India. Taken together, the aspect of marital protection or marriage selection is gender and age-specific in India. The findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between marriage and health, which may have significant implications for health-related public policies aimed at unmarried women. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-14170-0.
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Affiliation(s)
- Babul Hossain
- International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, 400088, India.
| | - K S James
- International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, 400088, India
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Song H. Women's Divergent Union Transitions After Marital Dissolution in the United States. POPULATION RESEARCH AND POLICY REVIEW 2022; 41:953-980. [PMID: 37501662 PMCID: PMC10373056 DOI: 10.1007/s11113-021-09677-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In the United States, high marital instability calls for more research on union transitions after marital dissolution. Previous studies focus on remarriage and pay little attention to rising post-dissolution cohabitation. In this study, I apply marital search theory to examine the level, pace, and differentials of repartnering (remarriage or cohabitation vs. staying single) and the exit from cohabitation (remarriage or dissolution vs. staying cohabiting). Adopting union history data from the pooled National Survey of Family Growth (2011-2017), I track union transitions among a sample of N = 2129 women. Analyses based on life tables and discrete-time event history analyses reveal important findings. First, most women repartner after marital dissolution. Compared to remarriage, cohabitation occurs more frequently and shows a quicker pace. Second, post-dissolution cohabitation is short-lived, and its transition to remarriage is more common than to dissolution. Third, these union transitions differ by demographic and socioeconomic predictors, including age, race and ethnicity, and education. Overall, I reveal that post-dissolution union transition is a divergent and unequal process, and I further discuss the implications on theory and family inequality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoming Song
- Department of Sociology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
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Lichter DT, Qian Z, Song H. Gender, union formation, and assortative mating among older women. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 2022; 103:102656. [PMID: 35183313 PMCID: PMC8861446 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
This paper presents a search-theoretic model of union formation among women, aged 55 and older. Specifically, it provides new estimates of gender differentials in cohabitation and marriage at older ages, and documents recent patterns of assortative mating using data from the 2008-2017 American Community Survey. Our analyses reveal that cohabitation represents a much smaller share of all older unmarried women, all partnered women, and all women in comparison to patterns observed among their male counterparts. The results also reveal highly uneven patterns of union formation by age, race and marital history, which reflect demographically uneven constraints and preferences. Our analyses also document, for the first time, patterns of assortative mating at older ages. Shortages of similarly-aged men, especially among older African American women, seemingly heighten the likelihood of demographically mismatched unions. Older women are less likely to form unions with same-race or economically attractive partners, defined as men having a college-degree. This study shows that older single women, in general, are at a comparative disadvantage in the marriage market, both in forming co-residential unions and in finding partners who match their own social, demographic, and economic profiles. This paper highlights considerable heterogeneity in the experiences of America's older women. It calls for new theoretical approaches that acknowledge the unequal resources and bargaining power among older women in the marriage market.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel T Lichter
- Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and Cornell Population Center, Cornell University, United States.
| | - Zhenchao Qian
- Department of Sociology and Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University, United States.
| | - Haoming Song
- Department of Sociology and Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University, United States.
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Uggla C, Wilson B. Parental age gaps among immigrants and their descendants: Adaptation across time and generations? Population Studies 2021:1-23. [PMID: 34939527 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2021.1998583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Age gaps between partners have undergone dramatic changes in high-income countries over the past century. Yet, there has been little focus on age gaps for immigrants and their descendants. This is an important omission because age gaps can be interpreted as a macro-level indicator of intergenerational adaptation. We examine the age gaps of biological parents (childbearing partners) among immigrants and their descendants in Sweden, a country with high gender equality and a stable mean age gap. Using longitudinal, whole-population data, we examine changes in age gaps for cohorts born 1950-86. Cohort trends in age gaps often follow very different patterns for male and female immigrants, with limited evidence of adaptation across cohorts. However, there is considerable evidence of adaptation towards the Swedish norm among the second generation, including from direct comparison between immigrants and their children. The largest differences between women and men are seen among the first generation with a Swedish-born partner.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ben Wilson
- Stockholm University.,London School of Economics
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Mating Market and Dynamics of Union Formation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION 2021; 37:851-876. [PMID: 34786000 PMCID: PMC8575772 DOI: 10.1007/s10680-021-09592-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The paper investigates the relationship between structural partner market constraints and the timing and educational sorting of unions in Germany (1985–2018). We integrate the literature on the effect of the reversed gender gap in education on educational assortative mating, with a focus on mating dynamics and the measurement of the partner market over the life course. We concentrate on two particular educational groups, low-educated men and highly educated women, those with worsening mating prospects and more subject to experience hypogamous unions. Our results show that the local education-specific mating squeeze influences union formation, its timing, and educational sorting. Indeed, for the two groups, the increasing supply of highly educated women in the partner market increases the likelihood of remaining single or establishing an hypogamous union, where she is higher educated than he. In line with search theory, we find the effects of the mating squeeze to become particularly visible after people turn 30 years of age. This is true for the risk of remaining single and forming an hypogamous union. We underline the necessity to study assortative mating and union formation from a dynamic perspective, taking into account changing structural conditions during the partner search process.
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Trends and educational variation in the association between spouses’ marital histories in South Korea, 1993–2017. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2021. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2021.45.27] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Daly M, Perry G. A Cinderella effect in the childcare assistance provided by European grandparents. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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A counterfactual choice approach to the study of partner selection. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2021. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2021.44.22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Xie Y, Dong H. A New Methodological Framework for Studying Status Exchange in Marriage. AJS; AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY 2021; 126:1179-1219. [PMID: 34366436 PMCID: PMC8345813 DOI: 10.1086/713927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We propose a new methodological framework for studying status exchange in marriage. As shown in recent debates on status-race or status-beauty exchange, the conventional loglinear modeling approach is prone to controversial specifications and alternative interpretations. In this study, we develop a simple method - the Exchange Index - with cohort-and-gender-specific relative status measures, statistical distribution balancing, and nonparametric matching. While allowing for multiple covariate controls, our Exchange Index measures the average difference in spouse's status between intermarriages and matched ingroup marriages. To demonstrate the new framework, we use two analytical examples of status-race and status-age exchange, based on the IPUMS 2000 US Census 5% microdata sample. To verify our new method, we also conduct replication and simulation studies. Our approach reduces model dependency, improves flexibility to account for confounders, allows for examination of heterogeneous patterns, speaks to fundamental concepts in status exchange theory, and takes advantage of increasingly available large-scale microdata.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Xie
- Princeton University and Peking University
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Abstract
With rising education among women across the world, educational hypergamy (women marrying men with higher education) has decreased over the last few decades in both developed and developing countries. Although a decrease in hypergamy is often accompanied by increasing homogamy (women marrying men with equal levels of education), our analyses for India based on a nationally representative survey of India (the India Human Development Survey), document a considerable rise in hypogamy (women marrying partners with lower education) during the past four decades. Log-linear analyses further reveal that declining hypergamy is largely generated by the rise in education levels, whereas hypogamous marriages continue to increase even after marginal distributions are taken into account. Further multivariate analyses show that highly educated women tend to marry men with lower education but from more privileged families. Moreover, consanguineous marriages, which exemplify strong cultural constraints on spousal selection in certain parts of India, are more likely to be hypogamous than marriages not related by blood. We argue that the rise in hypogamous marriage by education paradoxically reflects deep-rooted gender scripts in India given that other salient social boundaries are much more difficult to cross.
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Raley RK, Sweeney MM. Divorce, Repartnering, and Stepfamilies: A Decade in Review. JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 2020; 82:81-99. [PMID: 38283127 PMCID: PMC10817771 DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
This article reviews key developments in the past decade of research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies. Divorce rates are declining overall, but they remain high and have risen among people older than age 50. Remarriage rates have declined, but the overall proportion of marriages that are remarriages is rising. Transitions in parents' relationships continue to be associated with reduced child well-being, but shifting patterns of divorce and repartnering during the past decade have also reshaped the family lives of older adults. We review research on the predictors and consequences of these trends and consider what they reveal about the changing significance of marriage as an institution. Overall, recent research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies points to the persistence of marriage as a stratified and stratifying institution and indicates that the demographic complexity of family life is here to stay.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. Kelly Raley
- Department of Sociology & Population Research Center, University of Texas, Austin 305 E 23rd St., Stop G1800, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Megan M. Sweeney
- Department of Sociology & California Center for Population Research, University of California, Los Angeles, 264 Haines Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095
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Educational and age assortative mating in China: The importance of marriage order. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 2019. [DOI: 10.4054/demres.2019.41.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Lichter DT, Qian Z. The Study of Assortative Mating: Theory, Data, and Analysis. THE SPRINGER SERIES ON DEMOGRAPHIC METHODS AND POPULATION ANALYSIS 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-93227-9_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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