Equality of endogamy: Statistical approaches

In research on assimilation through marriage or defining racial groups as castes or classes, it is important to be able to test the equality of endogamy of groups of differing sizes and sex ratios. A variety of proposed solutions all have major difficulties. Log-linear models constitute an improvement but still retain some undesirable properties, including an inability to deal with both the linear and quadratic dimensions of the relationship between group size and endogamy levels by focusing on one to the exclusion of the other. Moreover, in the context of studies of comparative analysis of racial groups it is handicapped by providing inconsistent results for uncollapsed categories when other groups are combined.We recommend instead the weighted least-squares methodology both to test for statistical significance of differences in endogamy and to rank racial or ethnic groups according to their degree of endogamy. This method incorporates both the linear and quadratic components influencing the diagonal frequencies in marriage studies. Linear effects (see Table 2) are stronger when endogamy is high, and quadratic effects (see Table 3) are stronger when endogamy is low, although in general both are present together. Furthermore, this approach permits separate calculation of endogamy levels by sex and provides a test to ascertain when separate statistics should be computed. It is relatively free from biases in terms of the amount of “extra credit” given smaller groups, and is invariant when categories are combined. Conditional kappa values can be utilized to judge whether a racial group was relatively closed or open (compared to other groups) and to analyze the impact of the structural characteristics of group size and sex ratio on endogamy.In one area log-linear models retain an advantage over GSK-based analyses. The former have been employed to examine patterns of intermarriage via the quasi-symmetry, quasi-independence, and other tests based on off-diagonal elements. So far no comparable method has appeared for analyzing the intermarriage or exogamy behavior using GSK. Applications of log-linear models have been less successful in dealing with endogamy or inmarriage patterns.The comparison of degrees of endogamy by the GSK approach is based on direct measurement of endogamy by racial groups, allowing for calculation of standard error figures for each group's endogamy value. The ability of the GSK method to accomplish the above—as well as provide kappas which are invariant under group collapsing, tests of equal endogamy (by sex if necessary), and a test of marginal homogeneity—may be unique.Our recommendation is that in future discussions, involving comparisons of endogamy among several populations, conditional kappas and their standard errors at the very least should be presented. The distinction between male-oriented, female-oriented, and balanced conditional kappas, as well as the use of formal tests of endogamy, homogeneity, and marginal homogeneity permits examination of important population issues. The broad applicability of these techniques derives from their provision of a basis for comparing endogamy levels, since they produce consistent results for unaggregated data regardless of how minor or intermediate groups are combined. Such analyses are fundamental for gaining a more basic insight as to whether social and cultural factors, legal discrimination, or the basic structural elements of group size and sex ratio have greater influence on assimilation or the degree of closure in racial groups in the Americas.     

Group size and secular endogamy among the religiously unaffiliated in Canada

High religious intermarriage among the religiously unaffiliated is usually interpreted as evidence of religion's minor importance for this group. Between 1981 and 2011, religious intermarriage among the unaffiliated in Canada declined from 38 percent to 21 percent, while the unaffiliated population tripled from 7 percent to 23 percent. This paper examines the role of demographic factors such as increased group size in decreased religious intermarriage among the unaffiliated. Using census and survey data, we estimate probit models of religious intermarriage for unaffiliated men and women. The models include individual and group-level characteristics. Results show that for both sexes, relative group size was the single largest contributor to decreased intermarriage. Increased group size allowed the expression of endogamous or within-group marital preferences among the unaffiliated. This secular endogamy, or preference for within-group marriage among the unaffiliated, represents an increasingly important form of religion-related marriage as the unaffiliated population grows.     

Later first marriage and marital success

The research reported here used measures of marital success based on both marital survival and marital quality to assess how well first marriages entered at relatively late ages fare in comparison with those entered younger. Analysis of data from five American data sets indicated that the later marriages fare very well in survival but rather poorly in quality. The greatest indicated likelihood of being in an intact marriage of the highest quality is among those who married at ages 22-25, net of the estimated effects of time since first marriage and several variables that might commonly affect age at marriage and marital outcomes. The negative relationship beyond the early to mid-twenties between age at marriage and marital success is likely to be at least partially spurious, and thus it would be premature to conclude that the optimal time for first marriage for most persons is ages 22-25. However, the findings do suggest that most persons have little or nothing to gain in the way of marital success by deliberately postponing marriage beyond the mid-twenties.     

非婚同居法律制度研究

由于登记婚姻制的强制性,非婚同居与事实婚姻是两个存在交集的概念,两者的法律后果部分重叠。非婚同居有别于婚姻,不能直接适用有关婚姻的规定,但又要给予适当的法律保护使得其合理的诉求不至于被法院拒绝。有些关系则可以类推适用婚姻关系的规定如家庭暴力、姓名权、人身自由权等,应适当限制非婚同居者之间的权利,以维护婚姻正常的家庭职能。     

春秋“流亡婚姻”考述

据统计,春秋"流亡婚姻"共10起,涉及11国28人次,其成因分为流亡者流亡和与流亡者通婚两个方面。前者是君权和公子及卿大夫集团的矛盾,后者是要利用流亡者为本国利益服务,其结局分为"返国为君"、"定居为仕"、"赋闲定居"和"最终被杀"四个类型。通婚对流亡者的政治前途有重要影响是其显著特征,"流亡婚姻"从一个侧面反映了春秋时期民族融合、婚制以及妇女地位等状况。     

婚姻与爱情：错位还是平衡？——从《新结婚时代》与《大校的女儿》透视新时期婚姻观念的困境

王海鸽的《新结婚时代》与《大校的女儿》真实记录了新时期爱情与婚姻观念的困境。《新结婚时代》讲述了三对错位的婚姻,城乡婚姻,姐弟婚姻,老少婚姻,而在错位的婚姻中,爱情却是平衡的。《大校的女儿》中,或者是在平衡的婚姻中爱情缺位,或者在爱情产生的时候却无法进入婚姻,也注定了爱情的错位成为必然。这两部作品中所反映的婚姻与爱情之间的错位与平衡,是新时期婚姻爱情的现实状况。     

婚姻的效力与公序良俗——从两起婚姻实例谈起

就婚姻的效力与公序良俗的关系而言,近些年来出现的某些引发轰动和争议的婚姻,无疑可以成为我们研究时能够引用的典型事例。婚姻违背家庭伦理的,即因违反公序良俗而归于无效。现行公序良俗原则的立法有待完善,而无效婚姻的当事人也应该得到善待;这昭示着我们:法治的前提乃是对于人的尊重。     

文化流离、仪式变迁与农村“闪婚”现象的发展——基于赣南B村农村闪婚现象的考察

农村青年闪婚现象是农村婚恋研究领域新近关注的重点和焦点,本研究从文化的角度来探讨农村闪婚现象的产生以及快速发展。在对婚姻礼仪与过程的对比中,我们可以发现农村婚姻原有的文化意涵逐渐远去,这也即是本文所称的文化流离。婚姻仪式的极大简化不仅仅是传统文化无力的表现,更是现代性观念冲击农村青年婚姻观念的客观结果。农村传统文化的流离与解体是农村青年闪婚的内在原因,而农村婚姻市场化程度的提高也是通过传统文化的消解对农村婚姻产生影响。     

Trajectories of relationship supportiveness after childbirth: Does marriage matter?

Relationship quality for married couples typically declines after the birth of a (first) child, as parenthood brings new identities, stresses, and responsibilities for mothers and fathers. Yet, it is less clear whether nonmarital relationship quality follows a similar trajectory, particularly given the greater selectivity of nonmarital relationships that persist over time. This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,459) with latent growth curve models to examine relationship quality (measured by mothers' perceived supportiveness about fathers) for married and unmarried couples over nine years after a child's birth. Findings suggest that marriage at birth is protective for relationship supportiveness over time, net of various individual characteristics associated with marriage, compared to all unmarried couples at birth; however, marriage does not differentiate supportiveness compared to the subset of unmarried couples who remain stably together. Also, unmarried couples who get married after the birth have more supportive relationships compared to all unmarried couples who do not marry—though less so when compared to couples who remain stably together.     

Welfare deservingness opinions from heuristic to measurable concept: The CARIN deservingness principles scale

A steadily growing number of studies investigate how popular support for social policies targeting particular groups is rooted in citizens’ deservingness opinions. According to theory, people fall back on five criteria – Control, Attitude, Reciprocity, Identity and Need (CARIN) – to distinguish the deserving from the undeserving. Deservingness opinions are assumed to be important predictors of support for particular welfare arrangements. A striking feature of this emerging research, however, is that there is no agreed-upon strategy to measure deservingness. Most previous studies rely on proxy-variables rather than measuring the actual deservingness criteria. Deservingness functions as a heuristic rather than as a measured concept, which leads to conceptual confusion. To remedy this shortcoming, this contribution proposes and validates a new instrument –the CARIN deservingness principles scale- that captures the five basic deservingness principles. We analyse data from the Belgian National Election Study by means of structural equation modelling (SEM) to (1) test the dimensionality, validity and reliability of the scale, and (2) verify to what extent the five deservingness principles predict specific policy preferences (as a test of construct validity). Our analyses confirm that the five deservingness principles are distinct dimensions that are differently related to social structural variables and have divergent consequences for policy preferences. The finding of theoretically meaningful patterns of differentiated effects illustrates that the CARIN criteria represent distinct logics of social justice, and corroborates that our measurement instrument is capable of tapping into the essence of these criteria.     

Similarity in peer college preferences: New evidence from texas

In this paper, I use survey data from high school students in Texas to examine the magnitude of peer correlation in college preferences and choices. In this survey, respondents (and their classmates) recorded their preferences for attending specific colleges, and a follow up survey recorded their college enrollment decisions. This paper uses this information to present the first empirical examination of whether individuals who report preferences for “popular” colleges are more likely to attend their preferred college. The rich data set allows the use of often unavailable information such as distance to college, and the construction of the “popularity” variable allows the use of school-level fixed effects. Results indicate that individuals with 10 percentage points more classmates with matching college preferences are 3 percentage points more likely to enroll in their preferred college.     

唐朝民间民族通婚在《太平广记》中的反映

唐代是一个富有开创性的时代 ,作为社会生活重要方面的婚姻亦不例外。由于正史中有关民间民族间自由通婚的记述乏善可称 ,而唐律的规定又过于法律化 ,与现实生活并不完全对等 ,现存汇辑野史传记小说诸家的最大一部类书《太平广记》中的丰富文献史料可补正史之不足。唐代民族之间的自然融合带来了大范围的通婚 ,从国家政策看 ,政府并不鼓励这种通婚 ,通过《太平广记》狐篇可知中土人士对胡汉通婚是持反对态度的     

Women's age at first marriage and postmarital agency in Egypt

Early – or child – marriage (before age 18) may diminish women's ability to exercise agency, or their capacity to act upon their goals. Using a propensity score adjustment approach, we analyzed data from 2394 married women ages 35–49 years who participated in the 2006 Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS). We examined whether women's first marriage at age 18 or older was associated with their post-marital agency, measured in terms of their influence in family decisions, freedom of movement in public spaces, and unfavorable views about intimate partner violence against wives. In bivariate analyses, women's age at first marriage was positively associated with their decision-making and more equitable gender attitudes. However, once we controlled for selection into age-at-first-marriage groups, there were no significant differences between the two age-at-first-marriage groups in any dimension of women's agency. We examined the sensitivity of the non-significant age-at-first-marriage effects to possible violations of the strong ignorability assumption and the results did not alter our conclusions. The assumption that women's age at first marriage is a proxy for their post-marital agency, as defined here, warrants further study.     

论朵拉微型小说的哲理意蕴

马来西亚华裔女作家朵拉的微型小说内容的主旋律是爱情、婚姻和家庭,她的这类作品超越了单纯叙写男女之间的情爱婚恋,进入对爱情婚姻中男女两性现实相处关系的本质思考,具有突破时空表层意义的哲理意蕴。朵拉微型小说的哲理意蕴是通过作品抓住极富典型意义的一瞬,或者描摹概括力极强的场面,或者借助富有深意和张力的叙述话语来传达和实现的。     

Labor Market and Socioeconomic Effects on Marital Stability

This paper reports an investigation of the effects of socioeconomic and labor market factors on the dissolution of marriages since the mid 1960s. We examine the effects of possible sources of marital disruption, including poor labor market opportunities for young adults; the economic independence and improved labor market opportunities of women; and changes in the labor market roles and expectations of women within marriage. Using the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Men, Young Women, and Youth, we estimate the effects on marital stability of husbands′ and wives′ levels, differences and changes in educational attainment, income, and annual weeks worked. Our results suggest that average levels of couples′ educational attainment and recent work experiences positively affect marital stability. The degree to which husbands and wives differ on educational attainment and income does not affect marital stability, but the more that wives work relative to their husbands, the greater the chances of disruption. Positive changes in wives′ socioeconomic and labor force characteristics over the course of their marriages increase the odds of marital disruption.     

Is happiness inequality immune to income inequality? New evidence through instrument-effect-corrected standard deviations

Previous research has found that a nation’s income inequality does not affect its happiness inequality. This article questions the appropriateness of the standard deviation as measure of happiness inequality used in these studies. Our main criticism concerns structural dependency, i.e. the technical dependency of the standard deviation on a nation’s mean happiness which is induced by measuring happiness with limited rating scales. To overcome this drawback, two new measures are proposed which adjust for the effects of limited instruments. Applying these new measures to the most recent World Values Survey data demonstrates that some countries change their ranking in the league table of happiness inequality considerably. Moreover, income inequality does affect corrected happiness inequality, a finding which has significant public policy implications.     

The dynamics of radical right-wing populist party preferences and perceived group threat: A comparative panel analysis of three competing hypotheses in the Netherlands and Germany

Existing cross-sectional research considers citizens' preferences for radical right-wing populist (RRP) parties to be centrally driven by their perception that immigrants threaten the well-being of the national ingroup. However, longitudinal evidence for this relationship is largely missing. To remedy this gap in the literature, we developed three competing hypotheses to investigate: (a) whether perceived group threat is temporally prior to RRP party preferences, (b) whether RRP party preferences are temporally prior to perceived group threat, or (c) whether the relation between perceived group threat and RRP party preferences is bidirectional. Based on multiwave panel data from the Netherlands for the years 2008–2013 and from Germany spanning the period 1994–2002, we examined the merits of these hypotheses using autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models. The results show that perceptions of threatened group interests precipitate rather than follow citizens' preferences for RRP parties. These findings help to clarify our knowledge of the dynamic structure underlying RRP party preferences.     

Measurement of social health in a general population survey

This paper describes an attempt to define and measure the social health of individuals in terms of the degree to which they are functioning members of their community. Data were taken from questionnaires completed by 6928 adults in an area-probability sample of Alameda County, California households. Components of the social health index are employability, marital satisfaction, sociability, and community involvement. This index was associated with psychological well-being and other psychological measures, with the physical health spectrum, and with subjective evaluations of own health. Physically and psychologically healthy people are presumably better equipped than others to qualify for secure jobs, to maintain satisfactory marriages, and to become involved with others informally or in organized contexts. At the same time, socially healthy people may, as a consequence of their social health, be more likely to enjoy good physical health and psychological well-being than people who are dissatisfied with their marriages, socially isolated, and/or relatively unemployable.     

Boundary crossing in first marriage and remarriage

Owing to secular increases in divorce rates, remarriage has become a prevalent feature of American family life; yet, research about mate selection behavior in higher order marriages remains limited. Using log-linear methods to recent data from the 2008–2014 American Community Survey, we compare racial and ethnic sorting behavior in first and subsequent marriages. The two most frequently crossed boundaries – those involving White-Asian and White-Hispanic couples – are more permeable in remarriages than in first marriages. Boundaries that are crossed with less frequency – those between minority groups and the White-Black boundary-are less permeable in remarriages than in first marriages. Collectively, these findings suggest that racial and ethnic sorting processes in remarriage may reify existing social distances between pan-ethnic groups. Racial and ethnic variations in how the relative permeability of boundary changes between first and higher-order marriages underscore the importance of considering a broad array of interracial pairings when assessing the ways in which changes in family structure and marital sorting behavior promote integration.     

Same-sex cohabiting elders versus different-sex cohabiting and married elders: Effects of relationship status and sex of partner on economic and health outcomes

In this article, I use pooled data from the 2008–2010 American Community Surveys to examine outcomes for different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, and same-sex cohabiting elders across several key economic and health indicators, as well as other demographic characteristics. The findings suggest that elders in same-sex cohabiting partnerships differ from those in different-sex marriages and different-sex cohabiting relationships in terms of both financial and health outcomes, and that women in same-sex cohabiting partnerships fare worse than men or women in other couple types. The results indicate that financial implications related to the sex of one’s partner might be more predictive of economic and health outcomes in old age, rather than solely access to legal marriage. Nonetheless, findings suggest that individuals in same-sex cohabiting partnerships might experience worse outcomes in old age as a result of cumulative effects across the life course from both the sex of their partner (in the case of female couples) as well as their lack of access to benefits associated with marriage. Accordingly, these findings demonstrate that persons in same-sex cohabiting partnerships require unique policy considerations to address health and economic concerns in old age.