Why do young women marry old men?

This paper presents an overlapping generations household model with positive assortative matching (richer individuals marry richer partners), incomplete information about partner’s type (it takes time to reveal income-earning capabilities of individuals) and a gender pay gap on the labor market (men are more likely to end up with a high-paying job). In equilibrium, a gender pay gap creates an excess supply of desirable husbands and women marry early to increase their chance of being matched with an ideal partner, which results in a gender age gap on the marriage market. A modified model with asymmetric information yields a similar result. An extended model where individuals have an option to remain single (the marriage market does not necessarily clear in equilibrium) yields a similar result as well.     

性别观念、现代化与女性的家务劳动时间

通过分析2010年中国家庭追踪调查数据,本文考察了中国城乡已婚女性家务劳动时间的影响因素。研究发现,已婚女性的工作时间与绝对收入的增加可以显著地帮助她们减少家务劳动时间。此外,本文检验了女性的相对收入对家务劳动时间的影响在城乡与地区间的差异。结果表明,城镇地区女性相对收入的增加可以帮助她们持续地减少家务劳动,而农村地区的女性受到传统性别观念的影响,无法持续地利用相对收入的增加来减少其家务劳动。通过将调查数据与市级统计数据匹配,本文进一步发现,在农村地区,现代化水平的不同会造成女性相对收入对家务劳动影响的地区差异。在现代化程度较高的地区,女性相对收入对家务劳动的议价能力较强,而在现代化程度较低的地区,这种议价能力更容易受到限制。     

How Appreciated Do Wives Feel for the Housework They Do?*

Objective. Sense of appreciation for the work one does contributes to subjective well‐being and relational satisfaction, but few studies examine the factors that may affect levels of recognition for household labor. We formulate and test hypotheses based on the effort‐reward imbalance model in occupational health research to investigate the extent to which married women feel that the work they do around the house is appreciated. Methods. We use data from a sample of married women from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households to test these hypotheses. Results. We find that wives' absolute time spent in housework and the share they do are both important in shaping their perception of appreciation for housework. Women who hold relatively liberal attitudes toward gender roles and those who have more options outside marriage are less likely to feel appreciated. Finally, wives who often share time with their husbands tend to report higher levels of gratitude for their work at home than those who do so rarely. Conclusions. This study suggests that the literature on psychological and relational outcomes of household labor should go beyond amounts and divisions of housework to include beliefs about roles, couples' dependency, and their relationship.     

Broken Boundaries or Broken Marriages? Racial Intermarriage and Divorce in the United States

Objective: Several recent studies have investigated the consequences of racial intermarriage for marital stability. None of these studies properly control for first-order racial differences in divorce risk, therefore failing to appropriately identify the effect of intermarriage. Our article builds on an earlier generation of studies to develop a model that appropriately identifies the consequences of crossing racial boundaries in matrimony. Methods: We analyze the 1995 and 2002 National Survey of Family Growth using a parametric event-history model called a sickle model. To appropriately identify the effect of interracial marriage we use the interaction of wife's race and husband's race. Results: We find elevated divorce rates for Latino/white intermarriages but not for black/white intermarriages. Seventy-two percent of endogamous Latino marriages remain intact at 15 years, but only 58 percent of Latino husband/white wife and 64 percent of white husband/Latina wife marriages are still intact. Conclusions: We have identified an important deficiency in previous studies and provide a straightforward resolution. Although higher rates of Latino/white intermarriage may indicate more porous group boundaries, the greater instability of these marriages suggests that these boundaries remain resilient.     

The Alzheimer's Solution: How Today's Care Is Failing Millions and How We Can Do Better,by Kenneth S. Kosick and Ellen Clegg

Abstract

Marital literature has identified partner intimacy and autonomy as important determinants of marital satisfaction. However, little is known about how the balance of intimacy and autonomy affects the success of long term marriages among older couples. The author surveyed 88 men and 92 women in long term stable marriages to examine the effects of partner intimacy and autonomy on marital satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that intimacy was positively related, and hostile control was negatively related to marital satisfaction. Older respondents rated their partners higher in intimacy than middle aged respondents, and husbands were rated higher in providing autonomy than were wives. Intimacy and avoidance of hostile control were more important than autonomy to long term married couples. Social workers can draw upon a number of approaches to marital therapy that enhance couple intimacy.     

Marital History and Intergenerational Solidarity: The Impact of Divorce and Unmarried Cohabitation

Among the more recent challenges for the family are the increasing divorce rates and the decline in marriages. This article examines the possible consequences of these trends for intergenerational family relationships. How does divorce in the parent generation, and the shift from marriage to unmarried cohabitation among adult children, affect intergenerational solidarity? These questions are explored with data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG, n = 5,589, age 40–79). Scandinavian countries have high divorce and cohabitation rates and may therefore be of interest as comparative cases for countries where these events are less institutionalized. The findings suggest, however, that Norway accommodates to the general norm in the sense that divorce among parents is associated with lower solidarity with adult children on most solidarity dimensions. This is more true for fathers than for mothers. There is, on the other hand, no difference in solidarity between married and cohabitating children vis à vis the parent generation. The explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Social integration and suicide: Denmark, 1906–2006

Research on the relationship between social integration and suicide rates has neglected a historical perspective. Analyses are often based on relatively short time periods where there may not be enough variation in integration to affect the national suicide rate, or where overall integration levels are not low enough to buttress a link between a specific index of low integration, such as divorce, and suicide. The present investigation contributes to the literature by testing a hypothesis on domestic integration and suicide over a century, the longest period studied to date, encompassing periods of low and high overall social integration, and emergent risk and protective factors. Data are available for core variables for Denmark, 1906–2006. Annual data include those on suicide, and indicators of integration (divorces, births, marriages), as well as for economic strain (unemployment) and time trends. A log linear Poisson model is estimated, which explores the central divorce–suicide relationship under controls for confounders. Controlling for confounders, a one percent increase in divorce increases male suicides by 0.52% and female suicides by 1.12%. As anticipated, marriages decrease suicide: a one percent increase in marriages reduces suicide by 0.77% for men and by 0.63% for women. The trend in divorce, in particular, offers accurate predictions of suicide throughout the century. The relationship between divorce and suicide over a century is robust. The results offer the strongest support to date in support of a social integration model based on long term historical data on suicide and divorce.     

The status of women in rural India: a village study

This paper examines the status of rural Indian women and how their status has been affected by progressive legislation designed to remove previous inequalities. A socio-demographic survey of women and adolescent girls was conducted in a Maharashtrian village of 2100 people in 1975-76. The village economy was based on subsistence agriculture with 94% of females and 84% of males engaged in farming. Data were collected by means of participant observation and questionnaire interviews. Overall levels of education were low, with only 5% of females and 15% of males having any high school education. Over 50% of females had received no education, 28% of males. Inequalities between males and females persisted throughout all age groups but were less obvious at younger ages. 97% of women felt that boys should attend school beyond the primary level, 75% said that girls should. Many adolescent girls said they would like to continue their education but admitted that they would soon marry and advanced education was unnecessary. 62% of women favored modern medicine but 57% still felt that smallpox was a punishment from the gods; fewer educated women than illiterate women answered this way. Average age of marriage was 14.1 years; 69% of the women felt that girls should be married by age 16, but 70% believed that boys should not marry until age 18 so that they can complete their studies. 62% of women who had discussed family size with their husbands also approved of eating together and 55% felt that joint discussion was preferable. Only 25% felt that large families meant greater happiness and on the average 3.4 children (2 sons, 1.4 daughters) were preferred; over 75% said that they would exceed their ideal family size if they had borne only daughters. The local family planning program was approved by 90% of the women and use has increased from 13-43% from 1966-76. Low caste was related to low levels of education for women, but there is little difference in the number of children ever born; the disparity is mainly in regard to living children with mortality highest among lower castes. Age differences existed such as: 52% of the youngest group can read and write compared to only 14% of older women, age at marriage is rising, and older women had more communication with their husbands, but also had larger families. It was found in this study that: 1) attitudes were more modern than behavior, and 2) modern practices most practical to apply to their daily lives were more easily accepted. What is needed is a broad-based educational program to demonstrate current failures to observe the legislation favoring greater equality for women. Rural schools should help to transmit modern concepts by way of organizing school trips to outside areas. For these women, modern ideas must be proven relevant and acceptable within the village milieu. Also included is a list of social reforms and legislation affecting women's status in India from 1795-present.     

Attitudes To Marriage Among Young Tertiary–Educated Women

This study explores the attitudes to marriage and child-bearing held by women graduates born 1957–62. It is argued that this is a group of women for whom economic and cultural pressures to enter marriage are low, due to changes in social structures and the availability of a feminist philosophy that provides an alternative value system to patriarchy. With extrinsic pressures to marry so reduced, what factors determine the marriage and family decisions that they make? Interviews with a small sample of these women provide some strong pointers. Marriage at an appropriate age and to an appropriate partner was seen as providing substantially more benefits than costs. Delaying marriage until personal identity had been achieved was considered very important, with independent living, work and overseas travel contributing to identity formation. Supportiveness and egalitarianism were considered crucial qualities in a spouse, and those who were married had tended to marry men who were as or more ambitious for their wives than for themselves. An overall attitude of entitlement-with-organisation emerged. The increase in socioeconomic differences among women-in-their-own-right is discussed.     

The consequences of adolescent parenthood on men's depression,parental satisfaction,and fertility in adulthood

This study examines some social and emotional consequences of fathering a child during adolescence in the US. Data are obtained from the 1987/88 US National Survey of Families and Households among 13,017 individuals aged 19 years and older and under age 19 if currently married. This study's sample included only men who reported fathering a child before their 30th birthday and were aged 18-40 years at the time of the interview. There were 227 men who fathered a child before the age of 20 years (Fathered as Teen--FAT) and 1032 men who fathered a child between their 20th and 30th birthday (Fathered as Adult--FAA). Outcome measures include depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) and parental satisfaction. Control variables are race, age, number of children, and socioeconomic status. Fertility is a control and a dependent variable. The FAT group had a smaller percentage of marriages, a greater percentage of never married, and a greater percentage of second and third marriages. 32% of the FAT group and only 17% of the FAA group were Blacks. 57% of the FAT group and 72% of the FAA were Whites. The evidence from multiple regression analysis using ordinary least squares techniques supports the hypothesis that adolescent fathers, like adolescent mothers, experience similar long-term outcomes of greater depression and fertility compared to men who become parents "on-time" during their 20s. Limitations to the study are the lack of control for the degree of contact with first-born children, educational status, and standardized measures with group norms. The authors furthermore caution that the study sample may not be representative of men who fathered as adolescents and does not consider mediating factors such as social supports during adulthood. However, the finding that adolescent men and women are more subject to depression regardless of socioeconomic status, race, fertility, or age warrants appropriate intervention strategies.     

家庭背景与教育：婚姻中地位交换的性别与时期差异

本文利用2018年“中国家庭追踪调查”（CFPS）数据,使用对数线性模型,分析了1978～2018年家庭背景与自身教育在择偶过程中地位交换的性别与时期差异。研究发现,在跨越出身阶层与自身教育地位的异质婚中,夫妻一方会利用自身的相对教育地位优势交换另一方的相对出身阶层优势,这支持了地位交换论。1978～1991年结婚的夫妻中,女性更多通过相对教育优势交换男性的相对出身优势。随着时间的推移,出身阶层与教育在择偶过程中的地位交换强度不断增强,但更多体现在男性通过自身相对教育优势交换女性相对出身优势的婚配模式上,而女性的这一婚配模式呈先降后升趋势。可见,随着时代变迁,家庭背景在女性的向上婚姻流动中扮演着越来越重要的角色。     

The economic consequences of divorce in six OECD countries

This article uses longitudinal data to estimate the short‐ and medium‐term economic effects of divorce in the USA, the UK, Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Australia during the first decade of the 21st century. Based on the data collected during the 2000s, in all of the countries studied, divorce had, on average, negative effects on the equivalised household incomes of women. However, the extent and duration of the negative effects of divorce differed markedly between countries. In all of the countries, the effects of divorce on the equivalised household income of men were smaller than for women. Although, using the available data, it is not possible to definitely explain the differences between countries, the analysis presented in this article has demonstrated that the average economic effects of divorce, particularly for women, are heavily influenced by the social security system, the labour market, family models and the family law system of each country. While the social security system and institutional arrangements such as child support and spousal maintenance do influence women's post‐divorce economic outcomes, what is most important in explaining cross‐country differences is women's labour market earnings and the extent to which re‐partnering occurs.     

Empirical Evidence of the Effects of Marriage on Male and Female Attendance at Sports and Arts*

Objectives. This article provides an examination of how men and women spend their recreational attendance time and how their behavior differs when they are single and married. The battle of the sexes model and the theory of artistic human capital acquisition from one's spouse both suggest that married individuals will have different patterns of attendance than singles. Methods. Using data from the Performing Arts Research Coalition, we estimate a number of models to examine the differences between male and female attendance at art, professional sports, and popular culture events for those single and married. Results. We find that single males prefer sports, while single females prefer the arts. As predicted by the battle of the sexes model, men are more likely and women less likely to attend art events after marriage. This increase in male attendance is also predicted by human capital models of attendance that argue that the choice of art events is based on acquired tastes that can be influenced by the human capital of one's spouse. The battle of the sexes model, however, also predicts a decline in male and an increase in female attendance at professional sports. We find a small increase in female, but also an increase in male, attendance. Conclusions. The behavior of married and single males and females tends to correspond to the predictions made by the battle of the sexes and human capital models of attendance.     

Mothers' postdivorce earnings in the context of welfare policy change

We examined in this study the implications of divorce for mothers' earnings, comparing the 1990s and the 2000s, and illuminating developments in welfare policy for single‐parent families over those two decades. After the welfare reform of 2003, the economic autonomy of single mothers, established through a combination of welfare state‐based benefits and paid labour, was delegitimised, with a turn toward the marketplace. Using a unique data set created for this research by merging Israeli census files for 1995–2008, annual administrative employment records from the National Insurance Institute and the Tax Authority, and data from the Civil Registry of Divorce, we found that most mothers tended to increase their income from paid labor following divorce. However, they did so significantly more prior to the welfare cuts than after the cuts. The results can inform policy discussions about how mothers' postdivorce earnings might be affected by welfare policy shifts.     

谁主认同？转型时期中国女性阶层地位认同的多重建构及其世代变迁

女性的阶层地位认同研究近年来受到广泛关注，但缺乏多重建构视角下基于长期转型背景的世代变迁分析。本文旨在回答两个重要问题：第一，已婚女性的阶层地位认同是否受到婚姻匹配与代际流动的影响，丈夫、父亲与女性自身的客观阶层及其差异如何影响女性的主观地位认同；第二，上述影响模式如何随出生世代发生变化。在使用对角线参照模型分析中国综合社会调查（CGSS）2010—2017年的合并数据后发现：相较于自身的客观阶层，中国已婚女性整体上倾向于以丈夫的客观阶层来建构自身的阶层认同，但越年轻的世代这一倾向越弱；父亲客观阶层的影响则与自身客观阶层的影响并重，甚至随世代变迁略有增强。上述结果体现了中国特色的家庭现代化模式，即已婚女性虽愈少依赖于配偶，但依然与原生家庭保持着紧密连结。     

Migration and Employment Among the Civilian Spouses of Military Personnel*

Objectives. This article attempts to directly observe the effect of being a tied migrant on the economic status of the civilian husbands and wives of military personnel in order to confirm whether previously observed trailing‐wife effects are consistent with being a tied migrant. Methods. A sample of the civilian husbands of women in the military and the civilian wives of men in the military are drawn from the Public Use Microdata Sample of the 1990 U.S. Census. Ordinal logit models of labor‐market status and tobit models of hours worked are estimated, which include a migrant status variable. Results. Migration is associated with a 10 percent decline in employment among all civilian wives and a four‐hour decline in hours worked per week among civilian wives who remain employed. Migration is associated with a statistically insignificant but very similar 6 percent drop in employment among all civilian men and a five‐hour decline in hours worked per week among civilian men who remain employed. Conclusions. The results provide solid evidence that being a tied migrant, irrespective of gender, is disruptive to both labor‐market status and hours worked. Thus, the assumption that wives are harmed because of their disproportionate status as tied migrants is supported.     

Microfinance Participation and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Sample of Women in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

More than 30 million married women in Bangladesh access microfinance, an empowering anti-poverty tool, amidst mixed responses from scholars about microfinance's empowering effect. The present study evaluates whether microfinance participation empowers women using a culturally suitable conceptualization of empowerment constituting autonomy, decision-making power in the household, and justification of partner violence. This study utilizes data from a representative probability sub-sample of 6,150 married women aged between 15 and 49 years from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011 to assess the difference in empowerment between microfinance participants and a control group using propensity score matching techniques. Findings revealed that women who participated in microfinance were not statistically different at the 0.05 level from women who did not participate in microfinance in terms of empowerment when groups were matched on socio-demographic variables ensuring that treatment and comparison groups had equal propensity to participate in microfinance, casting doubt on the assertion that microfinance participation positively affects women's empowerment. Future research needs to focus on what empowerment may mean in relation to the outside world; we need to move beyond a familial understanding of empowerment to examine the individual in terms of her individual identity in the socio-political world in which she resides.     

同乡的力量：同乡聚集对农民工工资收入的影响

中国的城乡流动中存在同一籍贯或同一来源地的农村流动人口的就业聚集现象--“同乡聚集”。本研究使用2010年珠三角和长三角外来务工者调查的数据,采用倾向分数匹配和异质性干预模型等方法,考察了以籍贯为族群基础的同乡聚集对城市农民工经济收入的影响。研究发现,尽管同乡聚集者的收入优势受到异质性和自我选择机制的影响,但同乡聚集仍有助于提高农民工的工资收入。越倾向于同乡聚集的农民工,从同乡聚集中获得的收入回报越高。     

Women Are Being Beaten

Not only are they beaten, but they are killed, mutilated, and maimed, and not by highway bandits, nor by sex maniacs in dark entryways—but by husbands. According to Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) family statistics, 14,500 women were killed by their husbands last year, and 54,500 were seriously injured and incapacitated. In mentioning these not insignificant figures, one must bear in mind that domestic battles that do not result in criminal proceedings are not included in police statistics; these remain a private affair, within the family. And this is why women who run to the local police station crying "Help, he's killing me!" usually get a flippant brush-off: "So? If he kills you, then come to see us."     

Sex after divorce: older adult women’s reflections

People who divorce experience a number of negative impacts, and yet divorce also offers opportunities for growth and transformation. This qualitative study of older adult women offers the possibility that divorce may be sexually empowering, especially for women, based on in-depth interviewing of women who had gone through one or more divorces. Detailed examples of the experiences of fourteen women with divorce and sexual expression are offered, focusing on in which situations divorce might be empowering and how it could contribute to sexual exploration and satisfaction. Overall, for the fourteen women in the study who had experienced divorce, the quality of sex in the marriage impacted the quality of sexual expression after the divorce. Also, these findings supported the idea of transformational learning through divorce, and expand divorce-stress-adjustment and transformational learning perspectives to apply more specifically to sexual expression. Understanding possible impacts of divorce over the lifespan, including strengths-based aspects, is important for social workers as the population they serve ages.