The Emergence of Educational Hypogamy in India

Contemporary Marriage in Cambodia

Previous work has suggested that the drastic Khmer-Rouge-era changes to the family institution have not endured. Potentially more influential in the long term were the rapid socio-economic changes Cambodia underwent starting in the 1990s. We use four waves of the Cambodian Demographic and Health Surveys from 2000 to 2014 to document contemporary trends in marriage formation and dissolution. We find little change in the centrality of marriage, as both cohabitation and sex between unmarried partners remain quite rare. Marriage also continues to be nearly universal and early for women, but we find that the transition to self-arranged "love" marriages occurred earlier and faster than previously documented. A sign that parental endorsement may still matter though, marriage dissolution continues to be associated with spousal characteristics deemed undesirable by past generations. While higher among recent marriage cohorts, especially in the first year after marriage, levels of marriage dissolution remain comparatively low overall.

Sex differences in cognitive function among Chinese older adults using data from the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey: a cross-sectional study

Objective

To compare the sex differences in cognitive function and its influencing factors among Chinese older adults.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional study by using data from the China Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). According to the 32 provinces and 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government of China, 3-5 counties or districts were randomly selected in each province or city (except Tibet), and then 1-3 villages or streets were randomly selected in each county or district, from which the target population was sampled. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess the cognitive function of 9,262 older adults aged 65 and above in China. Descriptive analysis was applied to demonstrate the participants' demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, social and non-social activity, disease status, mental and sleep condition. And then, univariate and multifactor analyses were performed to validate different risk factors for cognitive function, respectively in the general population, male older adults and female older adults.

Result

The older adults with cognitive impairment accounted for 10.4% of the total population. There are significant differences in cognitive function between male and female older adults. The odds of cognitive impairment in older adult women was 1.291 times that of older adult men (OR = 1.291, 95%CI: 1.084-1.538). Among the male older adults, those who were older, highly educated, spouseless, had depressive symptoms, and lacked social activities were more likely to have cognitive impairment, whereas among the female older adults, those who were older, highly educated, and lacked social activities were more likely to have cognitive impairment.

Conclusion

Overall, there are subtle differences in potential influencing factors for cognitive function between the male older adults and female older adults. Attention should be paid to the different cognitive protection measures for the older adults with different sexes.

Growth failure among children of adolescent mothers at ages 0-5 and 6-12 years in India

Adolescent motherhood has been linked with poor health outcomes at birth for children, including high neonatal mortality, low birthweight, and small-for-gestational-age rates. However, longer-term growth outcomes in the children of adolescent mothers in low-resource settings remain inadequately studied. We used longitudinal data from the India Human Development Surveys, 2004-2005 and 2011-2012 (n = 12,182) and employed regression and propensity score matching analysis to compare the following growth indicators of children born to adolescent mothers (ages 19 years or below) with those born to older mothers. Growth indicators included height and weight during ages 0-5 years and 6-12 years and change in height and weight between the two periods. In regression-based estimates, children born to adolescent mothers were 0.01 m shorter and weighed 0.2 kg less than children of older mothers at ages 0-5 years. At ages 6-12 years, those born to adolescent mothers were 0.02 m shorter and weighed 0.97 kg less. The height difference between the two groups increased by 0.01 m and the weight difference grew by 0.77 kg over time. Height and weight difference between the two groups worsened among boys over time, while for girls, only the weight gap worsened. The results were similar when using propensity score matching methods. Public policies for reducing child marriage, combined with targeted health, nutrition, and well-being programs for adolescent mothers, are essential for both preventing adolescent childbearing and reducing its impact on growth failure among children in India.

Bride price, dowry, and young men with time to kill: A commentary on men's marriage postponement in India

Rising numbers of young unmarried men in India reflect a marriage squeeze that goes beyond the shortage of brides created by sex-selective abortion. We describe a decline in men's marriageability caused by their falling economic prospects at the same time as families of brides are increasingly seeking grooms with stable employment. We group young men into those without jobs or much education, those with education but no work, and the privileged few with education as well as employment. This classification resolves some of the seeming contradictions in the qualitative literature on marriage in India. Some of this literature talks about the rising prevalence of bride price and some about the persistence of dowry, while some papers reflect in general on the costs of being young, male, and aimless. Our commentary includes a review of the growing literature on the physiological and (perhaps) consequently behavioural and health outcomes of men's anomie.

Is It Only a Numbers Game? A Macro-Level Study of Educational Hypogamy

In many countries, the tendency for highly educated women to marry down in education has markedly increased. Research has pointed to an oversupply of highly educated women-that is, a marriage squeeze affecting women-as the core reason for this phenomenon. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of this marriage trend by analyzing over-time data drawn from IPUMS International census microdata samples for 34 countries. Several key findings are notable. First, the degree of educational hypogamy is associated with the magnitude of the deficit in college-educated men in the marriage market, which is consistent with the marriage squeeze hypothesis. Second, the degree of educational hypogamy is related to the economic empowerment of college-educated women, even after accounting for the mating squeeze effect. Third, counterfactual simulations show that while the mating squeeze is the major driver of educational hypogamy in the majority of the sample countries, the economic empowerment of college-educated women plays an equally important role in several countries.

Mass Education and Women's Autonomy: Evidence From Latin America

Most low- and middle-income countries have implemented mass education reforms in the last few decades. Demographers and policymakers have posited that mass schooling would enhance women's autonomy and, therefore, accelerate population transformations in the Global South. However, gains in women's schooling may have unexpected implications for female autonomy in contexts where hypergamy norms-the ideal that men should marry down and women should marry up in education and other markers of status-are still dominant. This study addresses difficulties in evaluating the causal impact of additional education on women's autonomy by leveraging the timing of compulsory schooling reforms in three Latin American countries: Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Using Demographic and Health Surveys, I implement an instrumental variable design using random exposure to compulsory schooling laws as an instrument for years of education. Results show that for women who entered the school system as a result of compulsory reforms, further schooling decreased their level of autonomy in all countries-especially among women from rural Bolivia and Peru. Additional analyses suggest these results are explained by changes in the selection into schooling and the formation of unions defying hypergamy norms. Together, these findings highlight the importance of examining the returns to mass schooling considering population heterogeneity and the contextual meaning of women's education.