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This study explores the relationship between parental educational similarity – educational concordance (homogamy) or discordance (heterogamy) – and children’s health outcomes. Its contribution is threefold. First and foremost, I use longitudinal data on children’s health outcomes tracking children from age 1 to 15, thus being able to assess whether the relationship changes at key life-course and developmental stages of children. This is an important addition to the relevant literature, where the focus is solely on outcomes at birth. Second, I look at different health outcomes, namely height-for-age (HFA) and BMI-for-age (BFA) z-scores, alongside their dichotomized counterparts, stunting and thinness. Third, I conduct the same set of analyses in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam, thus providing multi-context evidence from countries at different levels of development and with different socio-economic characteristics and gender dynamics. Results reveal important heterogeneity across contexts. In Ethiopia and India, parental educational homogamy is associated with worse health outcomes in infancy and childhood, while associations are positive in Peru and, foremost, Vietnam. Complementary estimates from matching techniques show that these associations tend to fade after age 1, except in Vietnam, where the positive relationship persists through adolescence, thus supporting the homogamy-benefit hypothesis not only at birth, but also across the early life course. Insights from this study contribute to the inequality debate on the intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage and shed additional light on the relationship between early-life conditions and later-life outcomes in critical periods of children’s lives.

This paper studies how immigrant–native intermarriages in Sweden are associated with individual characteristics of native men and women and patterns of assortative mating. Patterns of educational- and age-assortative mating that are similar to those found in native–native marriages may reflect openness to immigrant groups, whereas assortative mating patterns that indicate status considerations suggest that country of birth continues to serve as a boundary in the native marriage market. The study uses Swedish register data that cover the entire Swedish population for the period of 1991–2009. The results from binomial and multinomial logistic regressions show that low status of natives in terms of economic and demographic characteristics is associated with intermarriage and that intermarriages are characterized by educational and age heterogamy more than are native–native marriages. The findings indicate that immigrant women as well as immigrant men become more attractive marriage partners if they are considerably younger than their native spouses. This is particularly true for intermarriages with immigrants from certain regions of origin, such as wives from Asia and Africa and husbands from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Gender differences in the intermarriage patterns of native men and women are surprisingly small.

This study examines patterns of homogamy and heterogamy and their implications for couple’s fertility behaviour. Data were obtained from demographic and health surveys conducted in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia between 2001 and 2014. The study population were couples in a monogamous union where wives were aged 35 years and over: 1785 in Ghana, 3185 in Nigeria and 3175 in Zambia. Results of the descriptive analysis show that educational, religious and ethnic homogamy and occupational heterogamy were predominant among the couples and mean children ever born varied according to couples’ characteristics. The significant predictors of fertility as revealed in the multivariate analysis included educational homogamy and heterogamy, occupational homogamy, age difference and religious and ethnic homogamy. To expedite fertility transition in the three countries and other sub-Saharan African countries, programmes and policies aimed at reducing fertility in the region should incorporate strategies that focus on t...

Many young Protestants in the Chinese city of Xiamen marry a non-Christian spouse. How does religious heterogamy illuminate the social and ritual boundaries created by Protestants in Xiamen? Considering the function and permeability of these metaphoric boundaries, how should we visualize them? This article draws on data collected between August 2014 and February 2016. Intermarriage with non-Christians is condemned by most ministers in Xiamen, but it is an essential option for young women who far outnumber marriageable men in most church communities. The resulting weddings are marked by a search for compromises among the bride and groom, their parents, and the social communities for whom their parents host the wedding. It is argued that in terms of function and permeability, the social and ritual boundaries of Protestantism in Xiamen are less like barbed-wire fences than like the gates of a subway system, or the emergency exit of a shopping mall. Since a central aim of Chinese Protestants is to recruit more people to the faith, there is room for women to briefly exit the community and to re-enter with a converted husband. This focus on boundaries as metaphors may contribute to the field of interreligious studies, where boundaries are a key concept.

Social cohesion – particularly with regard to the integration of migrants – is primarily measured in terms of education, labour market participation, unemployment, income levels and poverty. When seen from a historical long-term perspective (considering the migrations of Homo sapiens in the past 300,000 years) admixture merged members of diverse groups and forged – in addition to social ties – ‘strong biological ties’ of kinship, proposing that religious heterogamy is a long-term layer of social cohesion. Accordingly, this study investigated, on the basis of more than 600,000 men and women aged 26–35 years from Austria 2001, Germany (West) 1987, Ireland 2011, Portugal 2011, Romania 2011 and Switzerland 2000, which demographic characteristics foster religious heterogamy, controlling for various confounding factors using linear mixed modelling. By far the most important factor explaining religious heterogamy was the share of adherents to an individual’s religious group in their area of residence. It can be concluded that the rate of intermarriage declines with the increasing size of an individual’s religious group in their area of residence. From a long-term perspective the lack of familial ties (and conjoint offspring) between religious groups could lead to a lack of social cohesion.

This study examines the effect of religious heterogamy on the transmission of religion from one generation to the next. Using data from 37 countries in the 2008 Religion III Module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), I conduct a cross-national analysis of the relationship between parents&rsquo, religious heterogamy and their adult childrens&rsquo, religious lives. By estimating fixed effects regression models, I adjust for national-level confounders to examine patterns of association between having interreligious parents during childhood and level of adult religiosity as measured by self-rated religiousness, belief in God, and frequencies of religious attendance and prayer. The results indicate that having religiously heterogamous parents or parents with dissimilar religious attendance patterns are both associated with lower overall religiosity in respondents. Parents&rsquo, religious attendance, however, mediates the relationship when each parent has a different religion. Having one unaffiliated parent is associated with lower religiosity regardless of parents&rsquo, levels of religious attendance. The negative impact of parents&rsquo, religious heterogamy on religious inheritance is independent of national-level factors and has implications for anticipating changes in the religious landscapes of societies characterized by religious diversity and growing numbers of interreligious marriages.

Using data from a nationally representative sample of married fathers of school-aged children, we examined the association between religious heterogamy of parents and fathers&rsquo, involvement in children&rsquo, s lives. We further examined whether that association is mediated by marital quality and father&ndash, child religious discord. Results showed that greater religious heterogamy is associated with less interaction and more relational distance between fathers and children. Results also suggested that fathers&rsquo, reports of marital happiness play an important role in mediating the association between religious heterogamy and paternal engagement. We concluded that religious fathers are more involved in their children&rsquo, s lives insofar as their wives are equally religious and they are in happy marriages.

This study analyses social heterogamy in western and southern Finland during the early stages of industrialisation, from 1700 to 1910. Marriage patterns are examined by comparing the social classes of spouses' parents, which can be understood as the social origin of the spouse. The rate of heterogamy within the freeholder class was only 19.8%, whereas it was 71.1% in the upper classes, 59.7% in the tenant class and 76.5% in the labour class. In addition, only roughly 20-30% of grooms whose fathers were landowners married brides from lower social classes. Certain individual- and family-level characteristics increased the odds of a heterogamous marriage: remarrying, age difference, being an illegitimate child or a single mother, and the first marriages of those in the labour class. Regarding macro-level variables, we found that higher rates of emigration and poor-relief recipients, along with having a larger Finnish-speaking population, led to higher levels of heterogamy. Other issues increasing the odds of heterogamy included living in the more urbanised or industrialised regions and moving to different regions. This study identified strict marriage patterns, which did not significantly change with respect to heterogamy. Nevertheless, indications exist that industrialisation and urbanisation began eroding the prevailing traditions.

Past research on religious homogamy has struggled to distinguish whether religiosity or homogamy has a stronger impact on preventing a marital dissolution. To rectify this problem, I use a latent class approach to compare couples with various forms of partner religiosity and similarity. Based on 707 newlywed couples from the Marriage Matters survey (1998–2004), I discovered four latent classes: “holy” couples (both partners are highly religious), “nonattending” couples (both partners identify as religious but don’t regularly attend services), “unbalanced” couples (the wife is religious but the husband is not), and “secular” couples (both partners are not religious). Findings indicate that holy, nonattending, and unbalanced couples experience less odds of divorce compared with secular couples, suggesting that religiosity in a variety of forms is more important than partner similarity in avoiding divorce.

This study examines whether family patterns (social origin of family, marital SES, arranged marriage, higher family size norm, and patriarchal family structure (e.g., extended/joint family, patrilocal residence, and family authority) affect age-heterogamy in marriage in rural Bangladesh. One thousand seven hundred fifty-five pairs of married couples for research purpose were randomly selected from Tanore Upazila of Rajshahi district, Bangladesh. The selected couples (e.g., both husband and wife) were individually interviewed, using questionnaire method (e.g., open-ended and close-ended questions). The collected data were analyzed, applying Spearman’s rank order bivariate correlation, X 2 test, and binary logistic regression. Descriptive findings indicated that most of the couples (76.58 %) studied were age-heterogamous than age-homogenous (23.42 %) in the study area. Results suggested that age-heterogamous marriages than age-homogamous marriages were significantly associated with ethnicity, marital SES, family income, arranged marriage norms, patrilocal residence, and autocratic family authority, adjusting for sex, age, age at marriage, and marital duration. Of the predicting factors, Muslim ethnicity, lower marital SES, middle family income, arranged marriage, middle family size, patrilocal residence, and autocratic family authority were the greatest (1–3 % times) risks factors to persist age-heterogamous marriages among the married couples in rural Bangladesh. This research found that age-heterogamous marriages than age-homogamous marriages were significantly associated with Muslim collective identity than Santal identity, hyper marital SES, arranged marriage, middle family size, and patriarchal family structure (patrilocal residence and men’s absolute authority than other characteristics in the family in rural Bangladesh, adjusting for current age, age at first marriage, and marital duration. The findings may have implications in social policy practice with age-heterogamous married couples in rural Bangladesh.

Objectives Prior research points to the importance of couple-level religious similarity for multiple dimensions of partnership quality and stability but few studies have investigated whether this association holds for older couples. Method The current article uses dyadic data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a representative sample of 953 individuals age 62–91 plus their marital or cohabiting partners. We use modified actor-partner interdependence models. Results Religious service heterogamy predicted lower relationship happiness and satisfaction. Both associations were partially explained by the fact that religiously dissimilar partners report relatively little free time in joint activity. Further, religiously heterogamous couples had less frequent sex and engaged in less nonsexual touch than their more similar counterparts. Conclusions Taken together, results attest to the ongoing importance of religious similarity—service attendance, in particular—for partnership quality in late life. Future research is needed to more fully examine which mechanisms account for these patterns.

We study the determinants of intra-household decision-making responsibility over economic and financial choices using a direct measure provided in the 1989–2010 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. We find that the probability that the wife is responsible for decisions increases as the wife's characteristics in terms of age, education and income become closer or even higher than those of her husband's. Thus, consistently with a bargaining approach, decision-making responsibility is associated with marriage heterogamy, and not only along strictly economic dimensions. However, in support of an alternative household production approach, we also find that the probability that the wife is responsible is lower when she is employed, which suggests the presence of a specialization pattern assigning responsibility to the spouse with more available time. Our results are robust to additional controls and alternative samples.

Although the impact of widowhood on the surviving spouse's health has been widely documented, there is little empirical research examining whether certain spousal choice decisions and marital sorting patterns predispose individuals to be more vulnerable to the adverse consequences of widowhood for health.We use data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and employ ordinary least squares models to (a) document variations in mental and physical health between married and widowed persons, (b) determine whether widowed persons in age heterogamous unions are especially vulnerable to the adverse consequences of widowhood, and (c) investigate to what extent differential selection, marital quality, and health practices account for health disparities by marital status and the spousal age gap.Widowed persons, especially those in age heterogamous unions, have worse mental health than married persons, but they do not seem to be more disadvantaged in terms of physical health. Differential selection, marital quality, and health behaviors partly account for some of the health disparities by marital status and spousal age gap.Our findings suggest that marrying a spouse who is very dissimilar in age may enhance one's vulnerability to the adverse consequences of widowhood for health.

A common stereotype holds that in Mexico male violence toward women is common among indigenous peoples and reflects cultural norms that sanction a male's domination of his female partner. We employ a recent Mexican survey to examine the relative risk of violence against women as a function of the couple's ethnic homogamy. Among couples in which both partners are either non-indigenous or indigenous the female's risk of partner violence is similar. Among heterogamous couples non-indigenous females in relationships in which the male is indigenous are at elevated risk of violence, while indigenous women in relationships with non-indigenous males are at a lower risk of violence. The stresses associated with heterogamy appear to be more salient in determining a woman's risk of violence than ethnicity per se. The implications for future research and the need to deal with the issue of ethnic homogamy in culturally heterogeneous populations are discussed.

BACKGROUNDIn their pioneering research, Becker, Landes, and Michael (1977) found that beyond age 30 there is a positive relationship between women's age at first marriage and marital instability. They interpreted this finding as a "poor-match effect" emerging when the biological clock begins to tick.OBJECTIVEOur objective was to ascertain with more recent data whether or not there is evidence of a poor match effect and if so, whether it is associated with higher marital instability.METHODSWe used data on non-Hispanic white women from the 2006-2010 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) (N = 3,184).RESULTSWe found evidence of the existence of a poor-match effect: women who delay marriage disproportionately make unconventional matches, which are generally associated with high marital instability. We also found, however, that their unions are very solid. Both of these results were consistent with earlier findings for the 1995 and 2002-2003 NSFG cycles. In attempting to explain this puzzle, we proposed and tested competing hypotheses. We found that the destabilizing effects associated with indicators of unconventional matches are also present in marriages contracted late, but are dwarfed by the stabilizing influences associated with higher levels of education and older ages.CONCLUSIONSThis paper contributes to our understanding of the determinants of marital instability and the poor match effect by providing a new interpretation for the puzzle described above.COMMENTSOur findings have implications for analyses of changes over time in the extent of positive assortative mating in the marriage market, and for the extensive literature showing that heterogamy in traits that are complementary in the context of marriage is destabilizing - heterogamous marriages contracted at a late age are likely to be stable.1. IntroductionThe steady increase in age at first marriage has been one of the most salient demographic trends in the U.S. landscape in recent decades. The median age rose from 20 and 23 for women and men, respectively, in 1950-1960, to 26 and 28 in 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). Several factors contributed to this trend, including the development of oral contraception and the legalization of abortion, the growth in cohabitation, changes in household technology, and the decline in the male-female wage gap (Cherlin 2004; Goldin and Katz 2002; Greenwood and Guner 2008; Isen and Stevenson 2012). The focus of this paper is on the growing number of women in the U.S. who are entering marriage in their late twenties or thereafter: What are the characteristics of the unions that they form? Are such unions stable?Two main theoretical concepts are relevant to these questions. First, Becker (1974) developed the idea that in the optimal sorting, there is positive assortative mating (mating of likes) for traits that are complementary within the context of marriage (e.g., education, age, religion, race/ ethnicity) and negative assortative mating (mating of people who are dissimilar) for those that are substitutes (e.g., productivity characteristics). When such sorting does not occur along important dimensions, so that there is a mismatch and the resulting gains from marriage are low, the outcome is a high probability of divorce (Becker, Landes, and Michael 1977; Becker 1990). Expanding on these insights, Oppenheimer (1988) advanced the notion of a "maturity effect:" marriages contracted at an early age are at a higher risk of disruption because they are more likely to be based on mistaken expectations. At young ages individuals have inadequate self-knowledge and are uncertain about their own and their partners' potential trajectories. Moreover, some of their adult attributes have not yet emerged, making assortative mating by such traits impossible. The maturity effect postulates that postponement of entry into first marriage has a stabilizing influence for all these reasons. …

This study investigates the effect of native/immigrant intermarriage on divorce. We used a rich longitudinal dataset from the German Socio-Economic Panel and applied event-history techniques to examine the risk of divorce among immigrants in Germany. Our analysis of the divorce rates of 5,648 marriages shows that immigrant couples have a lower risk of divorce than do natives. However, marriages between German-born individuals and immigrants have a higher likelihood of separation than marriages between two German-born individuals or between immigrants from the same country, supporting the exogamy hypothesis. This pattern largely persists when controlling for the socio-demographic and human-capital characteristics of the spouses. The divorce risk increases with the cultural distance between the partners and when the spouses demonstrate differences in their social backgrounds, also supporting the heterogamy hypothesis and the selectivity hypothesis. We found no support for the adaptation and convergence hypotheses. Divorce levels for mixed marriages are neither similar to the levels of one of the constituent origin groups, nor do they fall between the levels of the two groups; the divorce levels for native/immigrant marriages are higher than those for endogamous marriages.

Item does not contain fulltext The effect of educational differences between partners on marital quality and stability is commonly analysed using difference, or compound measures. This article considers the theoretical foundations for these approaches and examines an alternative approach, diagonal reference models (DRMs). The three methods are then compared empirically, using data on 629 married couples from the survey Child-Rearing and Family in the Netherlands. Difference measures show no effect on marital satisfaction, whereas compound measures and DRMs do show an effect. As DRMs also allow for the quantification of this effect, while being theoretically and methodologically appropriate, they are affirmed the best method. 14 p.

This study examines whether the increase of geographical heterogamy in the nineteenth and early twentieth century is related to modernization. Specifically, we test whether mass communication and mass transport enhanced the likelihood of a geographically heterogamous marriage as well as the distance over which heterogamous marriages took place. Furthermore, we study whether modernization decreased the relationship between social background and geographical heterogamy. We employ individual and municipality level data of some 30,000 marriages in over 40 municipalities in the Dutch province Overijssel between 1823 and 1922. The results from our multi-level analyses suggest that mass communication was more important than mass transport. 1. Introduction Studies of geographical heterogamy in Europe and the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth century show a strong tendency for people to marry someone living nearby (e.g. Bossard 1932; Rogoff Ramsoy 1966; Van Poppel & Ekamper 2005). For example, of all marriages in the first five months of 1931 in the city of Philadelphia, 30% of the couples lived one block or less apart just before marriage, and only 18 % of the couples had one partner coming from outside the city (Bossard 1932). Most studies show that during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the size of the marriage market increased (Gueresi, Pettener, and Maruzzi Veronesi 2001; Kok and Mandemakers 2008; Van Poppel and Ekamper 2005; but see Kok 1998 and Van de Putte 2003 for exceptions). Geographical heterogamy increased and shows the same development as heterogamy with respect to other ascribed characteristics, such as class of origin and religion (the latter after 1938) (Hendrickx, Lammers and Ultee 1991; Uunk 1996; Zijdeman and Maas forthcoming). But note that age heterogamy decreased during this period (e.g. Van Poppel et al. 2001). Contrary to studies on heterogamy with respect to age, class of origin, and religion, studies on geographical heterogamy are relatively scarce. However studying geographical heterogamy is highly relevant because it is connected to social cohesion in society. If culture or economic prosperity strongly differs between local entities, this is a potential source of conflict. The likelihood of conflict is less if there is exchange of people between localities, either by migration or by marriage. At the same time, as a consequence of the exchange of people, cultural and economic differences diminish. In the nineteenth century differences between regions in the Netherlands were still strong. Protestants lived in the north and Catholics in the south of the country. Between small regions there were differences in manner of speech as well as manner of dress. Municipalities even differed in their measurement of time, although the use of a universal time was requested by the Dutch government (Knippenberg and De Pater 1988: 77-82). Couples from different geographical backgrounds had to deal with these differences and solve the potential local conflicts. Today the cultural and economic differences between local entities in the Netherlands are small, although still existent. By uncovering the causes of increased geographical heterogamy we may come to understand how local differences were overcome. In an attempt to provide an explanation for the increase in heterogamy, with respect to ascribed characteristics in general and geographical heterogamy specifically, researchers refer to the modernization processes, such as the development of new means of mass transport and the appearance of mass communication (Kok and Mandemakers 2008; Van Poppel and Ekamper 2005; Uunk 1996; Zijdeman and Maas forthcoming). These two aspects of modernization affect heterogamy through different mechanisms. Means of mass transport allow people to travel over larger distances and increase the likelihood of finding a partner outside the local region. Mass communication is thought to spread information, such as news on events, technological developments, and fashion, beyond local regions. …

In most marriages, husbands are older than wives at the time of marriage. The extent of this age difference is referred to as age heterogamy. Studies of age heterogamous marriages have found men and women married to younger spouses live longer than those married to spouses that are the same age at time of marriage. In this study we examined the role of a religious affiliation as a factor in this age heterogamy effect, by comparing Jewish and Christian husbands and wives. While we confirmed the age heterogamy effect on longevity, we did not find any evidence that it was affected by religion.

En un contexto historico de expansion educativa, mejora de los rendimientos de la educacion y aumento de la participacion de la mujer en la actividad economica, este articulo examina y compara las pautas y tendencias en homogamia educativa en Mexico y Brasil entre 1970 y 2000. Concretamente, tratamos en perspectiva temporal y comparada las siguientes cuestiones: grado y alcance de la homogamia educativa y simetria en las relaciones de genero. Para ello utilizamos las muestras armonizadas de microdatos de los censos de Mexico 1970, 1990 y 2000, y de Brasil 1970, 1980, 1991 y 2000, puestas a disposicion por el proyecto IPUMS-International. Los resultados muestran un aumento de la homogamia entre las capas mas instruidas y una disminucion de la hipergamia femenina en ambos paises. Comparativamente, la homogamia educativa es mayor en Brasil que en Mexico, reflejo de una mayor desigualdad social, mientras que las diferencias de genero son mayores en Mexico. Educational homogamy (marriage between individuals of the same level of educational attainment) in Mexico and Brazil is declining significantly with the revolution in school attainment. In Mexico, over a mere three decades, the proportions finishing primary school doubled, rising from 40 percent for the 1931–40 birth cohort to 80 percent for those born 1961–70. In Brazil, where primary school consists of only four grades (compared to Mexico's six), the completion rate rose even more dramatically from 33 to 73 percent. Nevertheless these figures also show that in both countries sizeable fractions of the youngest generation did not complete primary schooling (one-fifth in Mexico and one-fourth in Brazil). Substantial inequalities of access to schooling persist. At the upper end of the educational spectrum, for these same cohorts the percentage of Mexican husbands with some university studies increased even more dramatically, from 5.1 to 13.2 percent and, for wives, from 1.1 to 8.3 percent. In Brazil the comparable figures are 2.2 to 5.8 percent and 0.6 to 5.7 percent, respectively. Marriage choice in both countries is strongly associated with levels of schooling completed—such as graduation from primary school, completion of basic or upper secondary, and attendance at or graduation from university. Years of schooling completed is not as salient. Thus, this research focuses on culturally significant categories rather than arbitrary number of years of schooling to compare patterns of marriage by educational attainment in the two countries. We analyze three successive ten-year birth cohorts, beginning with the 1931–40 generation, and take into consideration all marital unions, consensual as well as official. All coresident spouses in which either the husband or the wife was born between 1931 and 1970 are considered. The number of Mexican couples analyzed is 2,396,320 and Brazilian, 1,546,365. Our sources are high density integrated, anonymized census microdata samples obtained from https://www.ipums.org/international/index.html for the period 1970–2000. A series of nine log-linear models control for the unequal frequencies of various levels of educational attainment to reveal striking changes in the propensities of marriage within and between these groups. Log-odds ratios show universally positive homogamy for both countries, all censuses, and all levels of educational attainment except for one—where either the husband or the wife began but did not complete the secondary grades. (For this group, heterogamy was the rule in both countries and increased over time.) At the higher levels of educational attainment, homogamy is most extreme and is increasing in intensity over the generations, while at the lowest levels, homogamy is lower and declining slightly. Homogamy levels are much higher in Brazil than in Mexico, a finding which demonstrates the greater social inequalities in Brazil, and the fact that for Brazilians social mobility by means of education is more difficult than for Mexicans. These findings are suggestive rather than conclusive, and call for further research taking into account variables that influence educational attainment.

The tendency towards socio-economic homogamy - partner similarity in terms of socio-economic status - is of great interest to social scientists, for two reasons. First, socio-economic homogamy is an indicator of social closure between status groups in a society. Second, given that homogamy leads to the accumulation of advantageous and disadvantageous socio-economic conditions within couples, it also intensifies social and economic inequalities between families. The objective of this thesis is to enhance knowledge of socio-economic homogamy and its consequences for union stability in Finland. The first aim was to analyse the strength and patterns of socio-economic homogamy in partner choice. The second aim was to determine whether and, if so, how homogamy is associated with the likelihood of ending non-marital cohabitation - through separation on the one hand, or marriage on the other. In addition, two dimensions of socio-economic status, individual educational attainment and social class of the family of origin, were analysed to find out whether matching on individually achieved status or on the status of the parental family had a bigger effect on union dynamics. The analyses were based on sets of register data compiled at Statistics Finland. Log-linear models were applied to study homogamy tendencies and their changes in marriages and cohabitations of women born in 1957-1979 at the age of 30. The effects of homogamy and heterogamy on the likelihood of separation and marriage were analysed with Cox proportional hazards model in cohabitations formed in the period 1995-2002 by women born in 1960-1977. An elaborate approach was adopted: marriage and separation rates were examined in each possible combination of partner status. The results imply that people tend to choose partners who are similar to them in terms of educational attainment and class background. However, homogamy was stronger with regard to education than to social-class origins. This is line with the view that boundaries based on achieved status are more difficult to cross in modern, individualized societies than boundaries based on social origins. The most highly educated - those with a higher university degree - were particularly strongly inclined towards homogamy. The general strength of homogamy did not change much across the birth cohorts from the late 1950s to the 1970s, but the trends differed depending on the level of education: homogamy strengthened among those with a low level of education, and weakened among the highly educated. The results also indicate that in the absence of homogamy, women increasingly tend to have partners whose level of education is lower than theirs. Homogamy in class background had a relatively weak influence on the stability of cohabiting unions. Homogamy increased the marriage rate among the children of farmers, whereas heterogamy was associated with an increased separation risk when one partner came from a farmer family and the other from an upper-white-collar family. Educational differences played a somewhat more significant role in these transitions. Homogamy was associated with a reduced risk of separation among the most highly educated cohabitors in particular. The effects of educational homogamy on the marriage rate were less consistent: homogamy increased the marriage rate among cohabitors with a basic-level education, but reduced it among the most highly educated. The findings reveal that status barriers and cultural differences are of significance in partner choice and the stability of cohabiting unions in Finland, and that group boundaries based on achieved status are stronger than those based on ascribed status in terms of union dynamics. Sosioekonominen homogamia - puolison valitseminen samasta sosioekonomisesta ryhmästä - on yhteiskunnallisesti merkittävä tutkimuskohde pääasiassa kahdesta syystä. Sosioekonomista homogamiaa voidaan ensinnäkin pitää osoituksena statusryhmien välisestä sosiaalisesta sulkeutuneisuudesta. Toiseksi, homogamia johtaa hyväosaisuuden ja toisaalta huono-osaisuuden kasaantumiseen perheissä, ja kasvattaa siten sosiaalista ja taloudellista eriarvoisuutta perheiden välillä. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia sosioekonomista homogamiaa ja sen yhteyttä liiton kestävyyteen Suomessa. Ensimmäisenä tavoitteena oli tarkastella, esiintyykö puolisonvalinnassa homogamiaa ja onko homogamiataipumuksissa tapahtunut muutoksia viime vuosikymmeninä. Toisena tavoitteena oli tutkia, miten puolisoiden samankaltaisuus tai erilaisuus vaikuttaa todennäköisyyteen, että avoliitto päättyy - joko parin erilleen muuttoon tai avioitumiseen. Sosioekonomisen aseman mittareina käytettiin sekä omaa koulutustasoa että lapsuuden perheen sosiaaliluokkaa. Näin voitiin tarkastella, onko samankaltaisuus saavutetun aseman vai sosioekonomisen perhetaustan mukaan tärkeämpää liittojen solmimisessa ja purkautumisessa. Tutkimusaineistona oli Tilastokeskuksessa muodostettu rekisteriaineisto. Homogamiataipumusten ja niiden muutosten tarkasteluun käytettiin vuosina 1957-1979 syntyneiden naisten avo- ja avioliittoja heidän ollessaan 30-vuotiaita. Homogamian yhteyttä avoliittojen purkautumisen todennäköisyyteen tutkittiin vuosina 1960-1977 syntyneiden naisten jaksolla 1995-2002 solmimissa avoliitoissa. Tulosten mukaan suomalaisilla on taipumus valita puoliso samasta sosioekonomisesta ryhmästä. Homogamia oli kuitenkin voimakkaampaa koulutusasteen kuin lapsuuden perheen sosiaaliluokan mukaan. Tulos on yhdenmukainen sen oletuksen kanssa, että nykyaikaisissa yhteiskunnissa saavutetun aseman mukaiset luokkarajat ovat jyrkempiä kuin perhetaustaan liittyvät luokkarajat. Korkeimmin koulutetut - ylemmän korkea-asteen tutkinnon suorittaneet - olivat kaikkein taipuvaisimpia homogamiaan. Homogamiataipumuksissa ei tapahtunut yleisellä tasolla suuria muutoksia 1950-luvun lopulla syntyneistä 1970-luvulla syntyneisiin, mutta koulutusryhmien välillä oli eroja: homogamia heikentyi korkeasti koulutettujen keskuudessa, ja voimistui vähän koulutetuilla. Homogamian ohella naisilla osoittautui olevan taipumus valita yhä useammin puolisoksi mies, jonka koulutusaste on matalampi kuin itsellä. Lapsuuden perheen sosiaaliluokan mukaisella samankaltaisuudella oli vain vähän vaikutusta avoliiton pysyvyyteen. Homogamia oli yhteydessä suurempaan avioitumisen todennäköisyyteen maataloustaustaisilla avopuolisoilla, kun taas maataloustaustaisten ja ylemmistä toimihenkilöperheistä tulevien henkilöiden välisillä avoliitoilla oli kohonnut eroon päättymisen riski. Puolisoiden koulutuserojen merkitys oli jonkin verran suurempi. Homogamia oli yhteydessä pienempään eroriskiin erityisesti korkeasti koulutetuilla. Koulutushomogamia lisäsi avioitumisen todennäköisyyttä pelkän perusasteen koulutuksen saaneilla avopareilla, kun taas korkeasti koulutetuilla avopareilla homogamia oli yhteydessä pienempään avioitumisen todennäköisyyteen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että puolisoiden sosioekonomisella samankaltaisuudella on merkitystä sekä liitonmuodostuksessa että avoliittojen pysyvyydessä Suomessa, ja että saavutetun aseman mukainen samankaltaisuus on tärkeämpää kuin sosioekonomisen perhetaustan mukainen samankaltaisuus.

This study provides insight into the lives of eight married couples involved in an age-heterogamous relationship where the wife is ten or more years older than her husband. While there is a lot of information in the literature about men who date and marry younger women, the research on this subject is very limited or outdated. This exploratory study provides valuable information in several areas about couples in woman-older marriages. The interviews were conducted with each participant separately and explored three major topics of interest: The impact the age difference has on the relationship, the issues that arise for the couple, and any difference in husbands and wives experience. Implications for professionals working with such couples, as well as for further research, are discussed.

We use data from two national surveys of married individuals-one from 1980 and the other from 2000-to understand how three dimensions of marital quality changed during this period. Marital happiness and divorce proneness changed little between 1980 and 2000, but marital interaction declined significantly. A decomposition analysis suggested that offsetting trends affected marital quality. Increases in marital heterogamy, premarital cohabitation, wives' extended hours of employment, and wives' job demands were associated with declines in multiple dimensions of marital quality. In contrast, increases in economic resources, decision-making equality, nontraditional attitudes toward gender, and support for the norm of lifelong marriage were associated with improvements in multiple dimensions of marital quality. Increases in husbands' share of housework appeared to depress marital quality among husbands but to improve marital quality among wives. Key Words: decomposition analysis, family change, family demography, marital quality, marriage. The belief that the institution of marriage is in decline is widespread (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Glenn, 1996; Popenoe, 1993; Tipton, 1985; Zill & Nord, 1994). The growing popularity of nonmarital cohabitation, the increasing percentage of children born outside of marriage, the rising age at first marriage, the continuing high divorce rate, and the declining remarriage rate demonstrate that marriage is a less permanent part of adult life now than in the recent past. According to a marital decline perspective, people are turning away from marriage because it has become increasingly difficult to maintain happy and stable unions. Other observers view recent changes in marriage as being benign or even beneficial (Coontz, 1992; Scanzoni, 2001; Skolnick, 1991; Stacey, 1996). According to this view, although it is easier for people to leave unhappy marriages these days, the proportion of unhappy marriages in the population has not necessarily increased. Indeed, because divorce removes unhappy couples from the married population, existing marriages may be of higher quality now than in the past. Moreover, increases in married women's education, employment, and income have raised women's status and given wives greater decision-making power, thus increasing the potential for less patriarchal and more egalitarian marital relationships. With respect to marital instability, the divorce rate increased dramatically during the 1970s, peaked around 1980, then declined slightly (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000, Table 77). Therefore, although divorce is common these days, relatively little change in marital instability occurred during the last two decades. Evidence about the quality of existing marriages, however, is sparse. Using merged data from the General Social Survey, Glenn (1991) found that the percentage of people reporting that their marriages were very happy declined between 1973 and 1988. Similarly, Rogers and Amato (2000) compared a sample of young adults married between 1981 and 1997 (and surveyed in 1997) with a sample of young adults married between 1964 and 1980 (and surveyed in 1980) and found that the more recent marriage cohort reported less interaction and more marital conflict. Although these studies suggest a decline in the aggregate level of marital quality in the population, the lack of research on this topic makes it difficult to reach conclusions with certainty. The present study uses two national, representative samples of married individuals in the United States-one interviewed in 1980 and the other interviewed in 2000-to provide new evidence on recent changes in the nature and quality of marriage. SOCIAL CHANGE 1980-2000 During the latter part of the 20th century, a variety of demographic, economic, social, and cultural changes in the U.S. population had the potential to affect people's marriages either positively or negatively. …

In this article, we approach the most recent evidence concerning union breakdown in Spain using mainly the retrospective Spanish Socio-demographic Survey (1991). Life-table analysis was used as the main statistical methodology. We examine three basic aspects. First, we present the evolution of the phenomenon across generations and regions, taking into account the duration of first marriages. Second, we make a first attempt to study the determinant factors of marriage dissolution, considering for this purpose four dimensions: family background (parents' experience of divorce), individual characteristics (age at first marriage and educational level), economic autonomy of the partners, (occupation and socio-professional status), and characteristics of marriages (type of marriage and heterogamy). Third, we study the consequences of marital disruption for the custody of children and remarriage

This article uses data from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households to study the determinants of religious intermarriage in the United States as well as changes over time in its prevalence. Separate logit regressions are estimated for exclusivist Protestant, ecumenical Protestant, and Catholic respondents. Variables identified as playing a role in the intermarriage decision include the proportion of coreligionists in the relevant marriage market, various proxies for religiosity and for commitment to the parental faith, education, a premarital pregnancy, and gender. The estimated effects are generally consistent with hypotheses derived from a model of religious intermarriage. The results also show that the prevalence of religious heterogamy has increased significantly over the past decades for Catholics and ecumenical Protestants. In sharp contrast, there has been no perceptible change in the probability of marrying outside the religion for exclusivist Protestants, a group which continues to display distinctive patterns of economic and demographic behavior.

This paper describes the matrimonial and reproductive behaviour of Italians who migrated to Belgium after the Second World War. Migrants were either already married, or later became married, to other Italians. Among the children of migrants, men equally chose Italian or Belgian wives but women tended to prefer Italian partners. Italian-Belgian marriages were more frequent among the better educated groups. Family size is smaller among migrants marrying after migration and in heterogamous marriages. Significant differences in birth intervals are found when marriage occurred before or after migration, between generations, and between homogamous and heterogamous marriages.

Hypotheses are developed about the effects of husbands' and wives' religious affiliations upon fertility. The hypotheses are based upon the following ideas. First, different religions have different norms about fertility and the tradeoffs between the quality and quantity of children. Differences in religious beliefs between spouses may therefore lead to disagreement and conflict over fertility decisions and any possible resolution through bargaining. Second, a low level of religious compatibility between spouses may increase the probability of marital dissolution, decreasing the optimal amount of investments in spouse-specific human capital. Analyses of data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households conducted in the US suggest that both of these effects are important factors in explaining the observed linkages between the religious composition of marital unions and their fertility behavior.

Social and behavioural scientists have been concerned with relations between the work and family as the rate of female employment continues to rise affecting an ever increasing proportion of married women. A link between employment outside the home and marital happiness of married working women has long been suspected. Since two decades research has focussed on the relation between work and family experiences. Research focussing on the heterogamy hypotheses which links spouse difference to marital happiness is limited particularly in a developing country like India. Studies conducted elsewhere suggest that marriages in which couples differ in age religion education or occupation are more likely to have conflict and experience marital disruption because such heterogamous marriages have less consensus than homogamous marriages. Some find no significant relationship between age difference or social class dissimilarity and satisfaction in their marriages. (excerpt)

This retrospective study compared reports of gay and heterosexual male college students about particular behaviors and feelings during childhood and adolescence. The results were interpreted as providing general support for Bell's heterogamy principle that regardless of a person's sexual orientation, his or her romantic attachments will be to people perceived different from themselves.

This article compares divorce risks according to marriage type. The common dichotomy between ethnic homogamous and ethnic heterogamous marriages is further elaborated by differentiating a third marriage type; ethnic homogamous marriages between individuals from an ethnic minority group and a partner from the country of origin. Based on the analysis of data concerning the Turkish and Moroccan minorities in Belgium, it has been confirmed that the divorce risk associated with these marriages is higher than that of other ethnic homogamous marriages. However, specific divorce patterns according to marriage type also indicate the importance of differences between the minority groups.

Contains fulltext : 90228.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This study extends earlier research on educational inequality and health in two ways. First, we examine whether own educational level and spouse's educational level are independently associated with self-assessed health throughout European societies by analysing 29 countries simultaneously. Second, we ask to what extent educational heterogamy at the country level is related to health differences between and within countries. Theories on social capital lead to the hypotheses that average health is better in countries with more educational heterogamy, and educational differentiation in health is smaller in countries with more educational heterogamy. To test our expectations, we use individual data from the European Social Survey of 2002, 2004, and 2006 (N = 59,314) as well as country-level data. Using multilevel analyses, we find that not only one's own educational level, but additionally the spouse's level of education positively affects self-assessed health in Europe. The degree of educational heterogamy does not influence the average level of self-assessed health in a country. However, the positive relationships between own and partner's education and self-assessed health are weaker as the degree of educational heterogamy at the national level is higher. 16 p.

In choosing marriage partners, we generally look for someone with similar status characteristics to our own. This paper suggests that status inequalities may be hypothesized to make a difference in marital satisfaction. Using the couple as the unit of analysis, the effects of educational heterogamy on marital satisfaction were investigated. Using ordinary least-squares regression, we found that when husbands had more education than their wives, both partners reported less than happy marriages with more disagreement and less positive feedback. Conversely, when the wife had more education, both partners reported more satisfaction with the marriage. Using results from the ordinary least-squares regression, a two-stage least-squares model was estimated. In this more complete model, the strongest effect on each partner's marital satisfaction was the feedback regarding the other partner's happiness within the marriage. Possible explanations for these findings are presented. We argue that longitudinal studies, using the couple as the unit of analysis, are essential if we wish to study the processes of marital interaction between spouses.

A mechanism of mate selection in humans is proposed and elaborated. It is further proposed that this mechanism constitutes one of the important factors for stability and the necessary longevity of the procreational dyad and therefore the procreational success of humans as a species. The concepts and mechanisms of assortative mating (homogamy) and that of complementarity of temperaments of the mates (heterogamy) which guide such selections are described, the relationships between the two are explored, and finally their possible early developmental origins are proposed. Evidence from a small study of 20 married couples' responses in temperament tests is offered as well as some illustrative case histories all pointing to those mechanisms. The argument is based mainly on principles of evolutionary psychology.

Evidence suggests that the presence of children has a positive impact on the stability of both marital and nonmarital relationships. It is therefore important to understand the determinants of childbearing decisions made by couples in both types of relationships....Using data from the 1990 [Canadian] Friends and Family Survey and employing an uncertainty reduction model this article attempts to shed light on the childbearing experiences of cohabiting women after their entry into a cohabitational relationship. We find that the hazard rate of a cohabiting woman bearing a child within the union is associated with her age at the start of cohabitation her educational status nativity number of siblings heterogamy in cohabiting unions the year of the start of cohabitation and geographic region. (EXCERPT)

Data drawn from the 1991 US National Survey of Women revealed significant differences between married women and cohabiting or dating women in their level of commitment to a partner. Sexual exclusivity was selected as the proxy for commitment and compared in 1235 dating cohabiting and married women 20-37 years old. 4% of married women 18% of dating women and 20% of cohabiting women reported a secondary sex partner. In the latter group each month of cohabitation increased the odds of a secondary sexual relationship by 2%. Characteristics of married women that significantly increased the odds of a secondary relationship included no religious affiliation 4 or more previous sexual partners husband more than 2 years older and higher educational level on the part of the female versus the male partner. Among dating and cohabiting women the significantly predictive factors of a secondary sexual relationship included college education no religious affiliation religious heterogamy with partner higher educational attainment on the part of the woman versus her partner minority race or ethnicity and having had previous sex partners. Both before and after marriage the risk of having a secondary sex partner was increased (1.7 and 3.3 times respectively) among married women who had cohabited prior to marriage compared to those who had not. These findings support previous research suggesting that cohabitation is selective of women less committed to a relationship. Finally the research revealed that cohabiting women are more likely when they marry than women with no history of cohabitation to select partners similar to themselves in terms of educational level--another indication that women in this category value independence and equality in a relationship.

This study assesses the relationship between religious heterogamy and the marital happiness of Catholics, employing data from NORC General Social Surveys. A logistic regression analysis with interaction terms enables us to ascertain (a) whether any observed effect of heterogamy is attributable to correlated differences in religiosity; and (b) whether religiosity and heterogamy interact in affecting marital happiness. The findings show that heterogamy is not related to marital happiness for Catholics, either at the bivariate level or when religiosity and other variables are controlled. Religiosity, however, does have a positive effect on marital happiness, but only among homogamous Catholics.

In recent years, sociological research has been concerned increasingly with patterns of intergenerational and marital mobility of women, patterns of marital homogamy, and consequences of marital heterogamy. This research can make further substantial contributions only if it becomes integrated into a more adequate theoretical framework. In the first part of the paper, elements of such a framework are developed. Social stratification is conceived of as a process of differential association emerging as a complement to that of class formation in order to develop and preserve collective social identity within a world characterized by pervasive economic inequality. The outcome of this process is a long-term macrosocial reproduction of inequality when it penetrates two strategic forms of social relations, parent-child and husband-wife relationships. The second part of the paper applies this theoretical approach to the marital relationship by discussing traditional and alternative hypotheses about stratification ...

Deviations from the age norms governing mate selection often provoke negative stereotypes regarding the participants. This article focuses on age heterogamous unions or so-called May–December marriages, involving an older person with a young spouse. The public often attributes pecuniary (gold digger) motives to the latter. Our research tests the widespread notion that the younger woman exchanges youth for status or money. Using data from the Panel on Income Dynamics, age homogamous and age heterogamous couples are compared in terms of each of the spouse's achieved and inherited status and the contribution these make to explained variance in family income. Analysis using hierarchical multiple regression revealed that, contrary to popular belief, the status of the older spouse does not make a more important contribution toward explained income. Indeed, in this study, the reverse was the case in that the wife's status contributed more toward explained income. The notion that age heterogamy in marriage represents a channel of upward mobility for young women married to older men needs systematic reexamination.

Data from a representative sample of 1,070 married Protestants and Catholics were used to examine the relationship between religious homogamy and marital happiness. Although couples may vary in the extent to which they share religious views (e.g., beliefs, values), previous research has treated religious homogamy as a dichotomy; a couple is either homogamous or it is not. A partial explanation for this is that few studies have gone beyond the broad divisions of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew. In the present study religious bodies were classified on the basis of doctrine and ritual, yielding six categories: Baptist, Calvinist, Catholic, fundamentalist, Lutheran, and Methodist. These categories were then used to develop a measure of estimated “religious distance” or degrees of heterogamy. This measure was used to test the hypothesis that the larger the religious distance or disparity, the greater the likelihood of unhappiness with the marriage. The hypothesis was supported by the data.

There is probably no other single subject within the discipline of biology that has engendered as much misunderstanding and mistrust as has the subject of evolution. The mere mention of a serious discussion of this subject usually raises the tenor of interest in a roomful of beginning college biology students. Some are quite ready to hear more about a concept concerning which they have mixed emotions; some are resolute passive resisters; while others are immediately en garde and ready to take on all comers. Some see it as an overt attack on their religious beliefs, while others view it as a sort of mystical all-controlling demigod in itself. Since this subject is so central to the understanding of biology as a dynamic discipline, I offer these comments for consideration and criticism. First, it is an illogical reaction of college faculty to place the blame for a muddled view of evolution on instructors in the secondary and primary school system. While there may be some measure of merit in this reaction, the main difficulties, I believe, lie elsewhere. I would expect, for example, to find very few people on the street who would be able or willing to spend time in a debate on the relative merit of isogamy vs. heterogamy. The much more intricate topic of organic evolution, however, is readily discussed not only by the man on the street, but also by wellmeaning non-biology teachers, religionists of every kind, and of course, poorly prepared students. It is not my intention here to discuss the compatibility of the concept of evolution with theology, political theory, or religion. I would, however, re-emphasize to the reader that if he is a teacher of biology at any level, he has no monopoly, singly or collectively, in shaping the students' understanding of evolu

This article discusses the question of homogamy and/or heterogamy in human mate selection with particular emphasis on Winch's principles of type I and type II complementarity. The experiment was performed on 82 married couples, at least one spouse of which was a graduate student at the University of Illinois. All were given the 16PF, the Motivational Analysis Test (MAT), and the Marriage Role Questionnaire. The authors found that except for fear and pugnacity all husband-wife trait correlations were positive, in contrast to Winch's principle of type I complementarity. They also found that their data did not support Winch's principle of type II complementarity.

(1) Potential ethological isolating mechanisms were observed between breeds and strains of domestic fowl. (2) Brown and White Leghorn females exhibited homogamy, but females of a Broiler strain showed a preference for Breeding Line Brown Leghorn males, which bear a close phenotypic resemblance to the Red Jungle fowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus). (3) Observations indicated that females discriminated between males on physical characteristics rather than quantitative differences in male courtship. (4) In a ''choice-situation'', males which had been reared with own-breed females courted caged own-breed hens significantly more than others. Males reared with their own and other breeds showed only weak own-breed preferences, and in two cases, heterogamy was observed. (5) Males apparently discriminated between females on visual cues, particularly female plumage colour. (6) Assortative mating within a single line was also observed, females preferring some males to others. Quantitative differences in male courtship were not important in this respect. (7) In tests of short duration, males did not exert preferences for individual hens of a single line. (8) A sequential analysis of the courtship of the Brown Leghorn cock revealed that two displays were important in evoking female solicitation, namely the waltz and the rear approach. Three other displays were interpreted as increasing sexual arousal in the female. (9) The evolutionary significance of some of the results is briefly discussed.

A literature search by Glenn et al. (1974) revealed highly inconsistent findings regarding the hypothesis that social class heterogamy, or marrying someone of a higher or lower social class background, leads to marital incompatibility and divorce. Their report is noteworthy because this hypothesis was shown to be a "textbook generalization" in functional marriage textbooks. Pearlin (1975) attempted to explain the inconsistency by showing that one type of social class heterogamy-marrying downleads to perceptions of stress, incompatibility, and lack of reciprocity in marriage only for spouses who value status advancement (status strivers). The present investigation attempted to replicate Pearlin's findings regarding this contingency relationship by employing marital conflict as the dependent variable. The contingency hypothesis was supported when reported frequency of marital conflict was the dependent variable, but not when reported conflict intensity was the dependent variable. However, the relationship held only for the wives in the sample. The findings are discussed and a revised contingency hypothesis is presented which incorporates the new findings.

Combined data from six U.S. national surveys conducted from 1973 to 1978 were used to study patterns of interreligious marriage in the mid-1970s and to indicate changes since the Current Population Survey gathered data on interreligious marriage in 1957. Data on current religious preference showed an important degree of increase in religiously mixed couples from 1957 to 1973-1978. Data on the religions in which individuals had been raised indicated no extremely strong barriers to religious outmarriage except among Jews--the fairly high degree of homogamy in current religious preference apparently being achieved to a large extent by religious switching after marriage or in anticipation of marriage. The impact of interreligious marriage on marital happiness is also studied. (EXCERPT)

This paper examines "May-September" and "May-December" marriages--that is marriages in which spouses are separated by unconventional age differences. These marriages are not interesting for their numbers; only about 8% of marriages are age-heterogamous. What makes them interesting is their potential for theorizing about homogamy and its social consequences. Using data from the US Panel of Income Dynamics and a major epidemiological study in Florida this paper compares age-heterogamous and age-homogamous couples in terms of socioeconomic status and marital quality to examine the truth of the popular hypotheses that age-heterogamous couples are mostly from the upper middle class and that these marriages are burdened by problems that make them very unstable. The 4 groups studied include: 1) wives who are at least 4 years older than their husbands 2) husbands and wives who are separated by no more than 3 years in either direction 3) husbands who are between 4 and 10 years older than their wives and 4) husbands who are 11 or more years older than their wives. For all races marriages with husbands who are at least 11 years older than their wives diminished steadily from 13.45% of those making $4999 or less to 6.21% of those making $30000 or more. Couples with wives 4 or more years older than their husbands are also roughly twice as frequent in families with incomes of $4999 or less than those with incomes of $30000 or more. The data also show that age difference is a nonpredictor of marital satisfaction when socioeconomic status race duration of marriage sex and age are controlled. Measures of marital quality also did not discriminate between groups. These findings dramatically contradict popular wisdom and cast doubt on theories on the nature and effects or marital homogamy and heterogamy.

The relationship between religious homogamy and marital satisfaction is examined utilizing log-linear models. Inclusion of the separate effects of husband's and wife's religion on marital satisfaction allows us to control for the potentially spurious relationship between religious affiliation and marital satisfaction. Results indicate that homogamous marriages are more satisfying. In order to test the hypothesis that dissatisfaction in heterogeneous marriages arises over conflict regarding socialization of children, the presence of children is included. The hypothesis is discounted, since the homogamy effect remains significant. When frequency of religious attendance is included, however, the homogamy effect becomes nonsignificant, suggesting that patterns of religious involvement underlie higher satisfaction within homogamous marriages. In this report the relationship between religious homogamy and marital satisfaction is examined, and possible explanations for that relationship are explored. In one of the most recent analyses of interreligious marriage, Glenn (1982) finds evidence that religiously homogamous marriages are characterized by greater marital happiness than are heterogamous marriages. Males, in particular, reported greater marital satisfaction in homogamous marriages, and the difference in the percentage reporting a high level of marital status between homogamous and heterogamous marriages was statistically significant at the .10 level, even after controlling other factors. The difference for females, however, was not significant. Glenn suggested that the homogamy effect is more salient among men because children generally adopt religious values of their mothers, so that heterogamous marriages are more apt to create conflict between fathers and children than between mothers and children. Implicit in this explanation is the notion that the religious identification of children is a major source of strain in heterogamous marriages.

and marital satisfaction. In many studies concerned with mate selection, the major hypotheses come down to two, namely, homrogamy and heterogamy. In general, socioeconomic or demographic variables seem to uphold the homogamy hypothesis. On the other hand, for at least one investigator and the sources he cites, psychological variables support a heterogamy hypothesis.1 Employing the same frame of reference, it is a logical step from studies of mate selection to studies of differences in marital satisfaction be

Using national data on white ever-married women under forty-five, differentials in marital instability are examined for several of the wife's characteristics at first marriage and for the couple's combined age, education and religion. Dummy variable multiple regression is used to adjust for the effects of differing durations since first marriage and to obtain effects for each variable net of other variables. With other variables controlled, an inverse age at marriage-instability relationship persists; and differences in marital stability by education appear largely attributable to differences in age at marriage by education. Other characteristics we considered are the wife's religion while growing up, whether she grew up on a farm, whether she lived with both parents at age fourteen, whether she was pregnant before her first marriage and whether her first husband had been married before. When we included the husband's variables, we found husbands age at marriage and education to have a negative relationship with marital instability. Higher instability for intermarriage is found among couples divergent in age or religion; only extreme differences in education are associated with higher instability.