Mental Well‐Being Differences in Cohabitation and Marriage: The Role of Childhood Selection

Prior studies have found that marriage benefits well‐being, but cohabitation may provide similar benefits. An analysis of the British Cohort Study 1970, a prospective survey following respondents to age 42, examines whether partnerships in general, and marriage in particular, influence mental well‐being in midlife. Propensity score matching indicates whether childhood characteristics are a sufficient source of selection to eliminate differences in well‐being between those living with and without a partner and those cohabitating and married. The results indicate that matching on childhood characteristics does not eliminate advantages to living with a partner; however, matching eliminates differences between marriage and cohabitation for men and women more likely to marry. On the other hand, marriage may provide benefits to women less likely to marry unless they have shared children and are in long‐lasting partnerships. Hence, childhood selection attenuates differences between cohabitation and marriage, except for women less likely to marry.     

DO MEN “NEED” A SPOUSE MORE THAN WOMEN?: PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN

This study examines how important men and women feel marriage is for men and for women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that both men and women feel that men need to be married more than women do. Women are more likely than men to think that both men and women can have satisfying lives without marriage, but they are also more likely to think that only women can have satisfying lives without marriage. Younger, more educated people are less likely to emphasize marriage. On the other hand, religious people and those who are married with children are particularly likely to think that neither men nor women can have satisfying lives without marriage.     

HOMOGAMY AMONG DATING, COHABITING, AND MARRIED COUPLES

The winnowing hypothesis posits that transitions from dating to cohabiting to marital unions are marked by increasing selectivity in the mate selection or matching process. In this paper, we provide comparative estimates of educational, racial, and religious homogamy and heterogamy along a continuum of commitment: sexually intimate dating couples, cohabiting couples, and married couples. Log-linear models, fitted to cross-classified data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, provide only partial support for the winnowing hypothesis. On the one hand, homogamy with respect to race and religion increases slightly as relationships progress from dating to cohabitation to marriage. On the other hand, each relationship–dating, cohabiting, and married–is marked by substantial homogamy, at least for the traits considered here. And, in the absence of homogamy, each couple type reveals quite similar patterns of educational heterogamy or intermarriage, although upward mobility through partnering is less evident among cohabitors. Overall, however, the rather stringent sorting criteria that men and women use in selecting a marital partner, which manifests itself in marital homogamy, is also used in dating and cohabiting relationships.     

Partnersuche im Internet

The aim of this study is to analyze the role of educational qualification in the process of partner choice in “digital marriage markets”. Using unique interaction data of individuals participating in an online dating site, we are able to reconstruct early processes of partner choices of men and women. Our results show that there is a clear tendency towards educational homophily. Individuals therefore have a strong preference for partners with the same educational level. This is particularly true for women. Our results also support the exchange theoretical hypothesis that educational homophily is stronger the higher the level of education is. If we analyze heterophile contact behavior, it is obvious that women are still reluctant to contact men with lower educational degrees. They clearly prefer men with higher educational qualification. For men it is still quite usual to contact women with lower educational degrees. Our findings therefore underline that partner choice today is still dominated by quite traditional gender preferences. Overall, our results show that digital marriage markets do not reduce social distances between social groups. Rather, the high level of homophily seems to close relationships between social groups.     

Income and Life Satisfaction After Marital Disruption in Germany

Divorce in Germany and in many other countries is often instigated by the wife, even though marital disruption has much more negative economic consequences for women than for men. Both observations, however, are not necessarily a contradiction. Women may gain something that makes up for the economic loss. On the one hand, using data on income and (general) life satisfaction from the German Socio‐Economic Panel Study, this article shows that negative economic changes, as measured by data on household income, are real in the sense that they are reflected in subjective assessments of economic well‐being. On the other hand, these changes are relative because other aspects of life improve after marriage dissolution, and this is especially true for women.     

Breaking the in‐group out‐group: shifting boundaries in transnational partner choice processes of individuals of Moroccan,Tunisian, Algerian,Turkish, Punjabi Sikh,Pakistani and Albanian descent in Belgium

The ongoing popularity in some second and third generation migrants in Western Europe of marrying a partner from the countries of origin of their (grand)parents is considered to be problematic for micro and macro level societal integration of some migrant populations. Partner choice and marriage practices in migrant communities are problematized in public, media and political discourses by discriminating them from marriage practices in the ‘native’ population on the basis of three related dichotomies: (1) agency versus structure, (2) us versus them and (3) romantic versus instrumental marriage intentions dichotomies. By means of in‐depth qualitative research methodologies on the partner choice processes of women and men of Turkish, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Punjabi Sikh, Pakistani and Albanian descent in Belgium and an intersectional theoretical approach, this article aims to deconstruct popular and simplifying dichotomous representations of partner choice processes in these migrant populations. Our study reveals how religious, gender and social class boundaries are stretched to meet personal/individual desires and preferences. Individuals do experience social restrictions when it concerns social group boundaries and the potential partners that they can look for. At the same time individuals are never fully determined by their social environment, they creatively develop strategies to by‐pass certain restrictions and to some extent are able to meet their personal needs while being sensitive to the desires of their social environment.     

What predicts traditional attitudes to marriage?

This study, using data from 5,689 cohort members of the National Child Development Study, explores the impact of both structure of parenting family and contextual factors on attitudes towards marriage at age 33. Traditional attitudes to marriage were positively related to religiosity and negatively related to high non‐verbal skills in childhood and smoking or drinking in adulthood but were unrelated to the structure or background of parental family. The results also yielded some very interesting gender differences. For example, the presence of partner at age 33 significantly predicted traditional attitudes to marriage in women but not in men. In men, by contrast, it was the presence of children at age 33, the absence of qualifications and current low socio‐economic status that were associated with traditional attitudes to marriage. The implications of these findings on future family change are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Philippine Women on the Move: Marriage across Borders

This paper discusses how Philippine transnational marriage migration is intertwined in complex and paradoxical ways with global, local and personal matters. My argument will blur the artificial and still dominant analytical division between marriage migrants (wives or "mail order" brides) and labour migrants (workers – mainly domestic workers). Focusing on the life histories of different Filipina women, the paper illustrates the intersections and multiplicity of their roles as wives, mistresses, workers, mothers, daughters and citizens in a transnational migratory space.
Furthermore, I go along with those scholars who argue that women do not only marry in order to migrate, but that they also migrate in order to marry, as marriage is seen as an important aspect of social fulfilment. By carefully investigating these emerging transnational or even global marriage-scapes, I analyze the different motives, logics and desires that come into play. While women from the Philippines may look for "modern husbands" and "modern marriages" because of local constraints on their marriage opportunities, many western men turn to Asia and the Philippines for "traditional" wives whom they imagine to be more "conservative" and "less demanding." Both often discover that their gender stereotypes are more imagined than real.
The stories illustrate how Filipina migrants use different socio-cultural and socio-economic situations across transnational space – and at times against local gender constructions – in order to renegotiate and reclaim a respectable and desired marital status. On the one hand, these women are subject to manifold localised, legal and religious-moral definitions as women and wives. On the other hand, they creatively and actively utilise structural differences and new opportunities across transnational space to redefine themselves. The stories thus show both the women's agency and the importance of structural factors.     

Comparing violence over the life span in samples of same-sex and opposite-sex cohabitants

Using data from a nationally representative telephone survey that was conducted from November 1995 to May 1996, this study compares lifetime experiences with violent victimization among men and women with a history of same-sex cohabitation and their counterparts with a history of marriage and/or opposite-sex cohabitation only. The study found that respondents who had lived with a same-sex intimate partner were significantly more likely than respondents who had married or lived with an opposite-sex partner only to have been: (a) raped as minors and adults; (b) physically assaulted as children by adult caretakers; and (c) physically assaulted as adults by all types of perpetrators, including intimate partners. The study also confirms previous reports that intimate partner violence is more prevalent among gay male couples than heterosexual couples. However, it contradicts reports that intimate partner violence is more prevalent among lesbian couples than heterosexual couples. Overall study findings suggest that intimate partner violence is perpetrated primarily by men, whether against same-sex or opposite-sex partners.     

Religion,Marriage Markets,and Assortative Mating in the United States

As interfaith marriage has become more common, religion is thought to be less important for sorting partners. Nevertheless, prior studies on religious assortative mating use samples of prevailing marriages, which miss how local marriage markets shape both partner selection and marriage timing. Drawing on search theory and data from 8,699 young adults (ages 18–31 years) in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, the author examined the association between the concentration of coreligionists in local marriage markets and marriage timing and partner selection using event history methods. Religious concentration is associated with higher odds of transitioning to marriage and religious homogamy (conditional on marriage) for women and men at older ages (24–31 years) but not at younger ages (18–23 years). The association was also stronger for non‐Hispanic Whites when compared with other racial and ethnic groups. The findings indicate that religion remains relevant in sorting partners for many young adults in today's marriage market.     

A New Marriage Squeeze for Black Women: The Role of Racial Intermarriage by Black Men

Recent declines in the rate of marriage among Black women have been accompanied by substantial increases in rates of interracial marriage, especially between Black men and non‐Black women. Explanations for the retreat from marriage among Black women have focused on deficits in the quantity and quality of available partners, and the role of racial intermarriage largely has been ignored. This study examines the impact of interracial marriage by Black men on the marriage prospects of Black women. First, our analysis of data from the 1990 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) reveals that intermarried Black men are selective of those with the highest levels of education, income, and occupational prestige. Second, multilevel analyses, using both the IPUMS and Panel Study of Income Dynamics, show that the level of intermarriage in metropolitan areas is significantly related to the marital behaviors of Black women. Local rates of intermarriage among Black men reduce the likelihood that Black women currently will be married and that they will make the transition to marriage. These effects are especially acute for highly educated Black women whose marriage markets are defined by those Black men who are most likely to intermarry. Finally, our analyses indicate that intermarriage affects the marital prospects of Black women by negatively affecting the pool of economically attractive marriage partners in the metropolitan area.     

Money in marriage: how patterns of allocation both reflect and conceal power

This paper examines perceptions of money within marriage, focusing upon the concepts of control and ownership. It considers the criteria involved in Pahl's (1983; 1989) typology for the allocation of income, and their ability to capture the dynamic perceptual elements associated with change. These issues were explored by means of data from semi-structured interviews, using mainly middle-class couples (thirteen women and nine of their partners) in the 30–50 year age-range. Most of the women were in the process of returning to the labour market following an absence of at least eight years. The findings demonstrate, on the one hand, that Pahl's revised typology (1989), which includes an emphasis on the person possessing overall control, can be used to trace major shifts in the balance of economic power as a function of the life-cycle and associated changes in the source of income. On the other hand, the findings also show that a couple's report of their financial arrangements, concerning the Spooling’ of income, can yield the erroneous impression that resources are equally shared. In particular, the ‘rights’ of ownership associated with having earned the income may remain hidden, and lead to patterns of overall control with potential consequences for a non-earning, dependent partner.     

Gender and Ethnic Differences in Marital Assimilation in the Early Twentieth Century1

Historical research on intermarriage has overlooked how distinctive patterns of ethnic settlement shape partner choice and assumed that the mate selection process operated the same way for men and women. This study utilizes a sample of youn married adults drawn from the 1910 Census IPUMS to examine 1) whether ethnic variation in partner choice was shaped by differences in group concentration and distribution and 2) if factors shaping outmarriage were gendered. About one fifth of young married Americans had spouses of a different ethnic background in 1910, though there was considerable ethnic variation in outmarriage propensities. Barriers to intermarriage fell at different rates, depending upon ethnic grou, sex, and region of settlement; they were weakest for first‐and seconl eneration English men. Structural factors such as group size operatef differently for men and women; while larger group representation increased men's odds of outmarriage to both native stock and other white ethnic wives, women from the ethnic groups with the largest presence were significantly more likely to wed fellow ethnics than the native stock. Ultimately, even if they resided in the same location, the marriage market operated in different ways for ethnic women and men in search of mates.     

Love,Marriage and the Division of Labor*

In this questionnaire study young engaged men and women were asked about the importance of love in marriage and the meaning of the concept “love.” Marital goals and criteria for mate choice were also explored. A highly consistent image of marriage as an institution in which to realize a comprehensive companionship with a partner of compatible temperament and life goals emerged. These findings have demonstrable implications for existing theoretical formulations concerning the dysfunctional aspects of the love marriage in contemporary American society in which it is contended that “romantic idealization” during courtship leads to a high incidence of dissatisfaction and disruption. Findings from numerous studies are assimilated to present an alternative explanation for marital conflict in the context of the modern division of labor in which the spheres of work and the family are poorly integrated, particularly in view of sharp role segregation by sex.     

Career Planning in Spain: Do Fixed-term Contracts Delay Marriage and Parenthood?

The aim of this paper is to find an empirical connection between the striking increase in the use of fixed-term contracts in Spain and the observed delay in the age at marriage and maternity. Using the eight waves of individual information from the European Household Panel for Spain, we find that for men, the decision whether to get married is strongly negatively affected by holding unstable contracts or not working, relative to when an indefinite contract is held. However, for women, results suggest that holding fixed-term contracts is not a deterrent for the decision whether to get married. With respect to the decision of whether to enter into parenthood, results indicate that for all childless women, either with no partner, holding fixed-term contracts delays entry into motherhood relative to the holding of indefinite contracts. The discouragement effect is stronger for women with no partner, though.JEL classification: D1, J1     

CHANGE IN SPOUSE AGE DIFFERENCE AT MARRIAGE: A CHALLENGE TO TRADITIONAL FAMILY AND SEX ROLES?

We speculate that four broad societal changes (postponement of marriage by large numbers of women, dispersion of divorce throughout the life cycle, more equitable distribution of power between men and women, and wide swings in fertility) should eventually affect male-female age difference at marriage—i.e., the age-mating gradient. Examination of age difference at marriage from 1930–1980 in a central Florida county shows a trend toward increasing percentages of women marrying men younger than themselves. Data on all marriages for 1985 for this same county ( N = 7,021) indicates a continuation of this trend. Previous investigation of the age-mating gradient disclosed that age at marriage and marriage parity are related to the percentage of marriages in which the age-mating gradient is "followed.' Using the proportion marrying mates older or younger by three or more years as a conservative measure of the violation of the age-mating gradient, we find that the persons most likely to deviate from the traditional age-mating gradient were men ages 24–29, women over 30, and those persons who were marrying for the second, third, or later time. Some suggested explanations for these patterns are offered.     

A Transnational Perspective on Divorce and Marriage: Filipina Wives and Workers

Building on the burgeoning literature on gender and transnationalism, this article considers how Filipina women's labor and marriage migrations are intertwined in complex and paradoxical ways with global, local, and personal factors. Central to the article are the stories of two women, one a Filipina overseas contract worker in Hong Kong and the other a Filipina in the Philippines who sought to meet a foreign marriage partner through correspondence. These stories illustrate how, because of the absence of divorce in the Philippines, women creatively maneuver across transnational terrain in order to realize their desired marital subjectivities. These stories point to women's agency and to the importance of structural factors-particularly legal ones-that both constrain women and yet simultaneously allow them to creatively utilize legal inconsistencies across transnational spaces to redefine themselves as wives and to reclaim a "respectable" marital status. In contrast to the common assumption that women marry foreign men in order to migrate or primarily for material gain, this article argues that-in at least some cases-migration can also serve as a means to attain the valued goal of (re)marriage.     

Prevalence of wife rape and other intimate partner sexual coercion in a nationally representative sample of women

This article provides a national estimate of wife rape and various other types of sexual coercion by a spouse or intimate partner. Findings from a 1997 national probability sample revealed that 34% of women were victims of some type of sexual coercion with a husband or partner in their lifetime. Of these women, 10% experienced rape by a current partner. This rate increased to 13% when only victims of rape by a current husband were included, which is consistent with previous studies on wife rape. Other findings reveal that women had unwanted sex with a current spouse or partner in return for a partner's spending money on them (24%), because they thought it was their "duty" (43%), after a romantic situation (29%), after the partner begged and pleaded with them (26%), and after their partner said things to bully them (9%). The importance of examining a continuum of sexual coercion is discussed and findings are compared and contrasted with other prevalence rates for sexual coercion in marriage.     

Generous or Greedy Marriage? A Longitudinal Study of Volunteering and Charitable Giving

Recent scholarship has explored whether marriage encourages individuals to contribute to or withdraw from society. The authors examined how marriage affects volunteering and charitable giving, using longitudinal data from the 2001 to 2009 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Newly married men, but not women, were significantly more likely to give money to charity in the first survey wave after marriage and gave larger amounts of money. Newly married women, but not men, were significantly less likely to volunteer after marriage and volunteered fewer hours. Marriage had a stronger effect on religious giving than overall giving among men and had a significant and positive effect on religious giving among women. Marriage had a stronger positive effect on men's giving in the second wave after marriage than after the first.     

“I Try Not to Depend on Anyone but Me”: Welfare‐Reliant Women's Perspectives on Self‐Sufficiency,Work, and Marriage*

Welfare reformers sought to reduce “dependency,” or reliance on state‐supported cash benefits and deployed a discourse of “self‐sufficiency” to promote the legitimacy of efforts to remove welfare recipients from publicly funded cash assistance through either wage labor or marriage. We use longitudinal, qualitative interview data collected from 38 initially welfare‐reliant women to examine what self‐sufficiency means to them and their perspectives on how work and marriage affect their ability to be self‐sufficient. Grounded theory analysis revealed that for these women, self‐sufficiency means formal independence from both the state (i.e., Temporary Assistance to Needy Families [TANF]) and men (i.e., marriage). Although they value marriage as an institution and would ideally marry, they do not consider marriage to be a likely route to self‐sufficiency given the pool of men available to them. Rather, they embrace their own market‐based wage labor as the means by which they can attain some measure of independence. Taking our lead from the women in this study, we challenge the emphasis on marriage in current welfare policy. We argue that employment training that results in better jobs for women and men and work supports that make low‐wage work pay are clearly the appropriate direction for policy aimed at the welfare‐reliant and working poor.