scholarly journals Mating Market and Dynamics of Union Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Corti ◽  
Stefani Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Union Formation ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Dynamic Perspective ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Low Educated ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Partner Market

AbstractThe paper investigates the relationship between structural partner market constraints and the timing and educational sorting of unions in Germany (1985–2018). We integrate the literature on the effect of the reversed gender gap in education on educational assortative mating, with a focus on mating dynamics and the measurement of the partner market over the life course. We concentrate on two particular educational groups, low-educated men and highly educated women, those with worsening mating prospects and more subject to experience hypogamous unions. Our results show that the local education-specific mating squeeze influences union formation, its timing, and educational sorting. Indeed, for the two groups, the increasing supply of highly educated women in the partner market increases the likelihood of remaining single or establishing an hypogamous union, where she is higher educated than he. In line with search theory, we find the effects of the mating squeeze to become particularly visible after people turn 30 years of age. This is true for the risk of remaining single and forming an hypogamous union. We underline the necessity to study assortative mating and union formation from a dynamic perspective, taking into account changing structural conditions during the partner search process.

Opportunities and Constraints of the Partner Market and Educational Assortative Mating

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2098449
Author(s):  
Johannes Stauder ◽  
Tom Kossow
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Heterosexual Couples ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Educational Homogamy ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Market Density ◽  
Partner Market

This study aims to determine to what extent the opportunities and restrictions of the partner market influence educational assortative mating. It also analyzes the interplay between the opportunity structure and preferences. Matching district-based partner market indicators to heterosexual couples when they move in together based on the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find strong effects of the opportunity structure on educational homogamy. The results further imply that the density of the supply of potential partners is more important for educational assortative mating than imbalanced supply and competition. While the impact of partner market imbalances on assortative mating is a mere effect of the opportunity structure, the effects of the partner market density of relevant and available partners in space weakly imply that homophile and maximization preferences are simultaneously at work.

scholarly journals Assortative Mating, Income Inequality, and Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Avril Macfarlane
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Relationship

<p>There is a growing concern internationally about levels of income inequality, and the negative effect this has on the functioning of societies both in terms of productivity and social harmony. An unexpected contributor to inequality is assortative mating - the phenomenon of “like marrying like”. Educational attainment is highly correlated with income; when two highly educated people partner and form a household they are more likely to appear at the top of the household income distribution, while couples with only primary or incomplete secondary education appear at the bottom. Therefore the greater the propensity to mate assortatively the more unequal the distribution of household income becomes.   I ask two questions of the relationship between educational assortative mating and household income inequality. Firstly, how do countries (in Europe) differ in their degree of educational assortative mating? Secondly, what is the evidence that such differences are reflected in indicators of household income inequality?   My study differs from the prevailing approaches to this question by taking a geographical approach. Instead of comparing a single country over time and monitoring the correspondence between assortative mating and income inequality, I compare a wide range of countries, using a uniform instrument, at one point in time. In order to do so I draw on the unit records of 29 countries from the European Social Survey administered in 2012.   From these unit record data I have been able to identify two important patterns. Firstly, there is a clear presence of educational assortative mating in each country. However, the degree differs and it does so primarily as a reflection of the overall level of education in the country. Rising levels of education lower the returns for education, in turn making assortative mating comparatively less attractive. As a result, the level of assortative mating, compared to what would be expected under random conditions, is lower in highly educated nations. The lowered level of assortative mating in highly educated nations reduces the barriers to social mobility through marriage for those without university educations. Consequently, household income inequality is seen to be intrinsically related to assortative mating, although the outcomes can be mitigated by redistribution policies.</p>

scholarly journals Assortative Mating, Income Inequality, and Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Avril Macfarlane
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Relationship

<p>There is a growing concern internationally about levels of income inequality, and the negative effect this has on the functioning of societies both in terms of productivity and social harmony. An unexpected contributor to inequality is assortative mating - the phenomenon of “like marrying like”. Educational attainment is highly correlated with income; when two highly educated people partner and form a household they are more likely to appear at the top of the household income distribution, while couples with only primary or incomplete secondary education appear at the bottom. Therefore the greater the propensity to mate assortatively the more unequal the distribution of household income becomes.   I ask two questions of the relationship between educational assortative mating and household income inequality. Firstly, how do countries (in Europe) differ in their degree of educational assortative mating? Secondly, what is the evidence that such differences are reflected in indicators of household income inequality?   My study differs from the prevailing approaches to this question by taking a geographical approach. Instead of comparing a single country over time and monitoring the correspondence between assortative mating and income inequality, I compare a wide range of countries, using a uniform instrument, at one point in time. In order to do so I draw on the unit records of 29 countries from the European Social Survey administered in 2012.   From these unit record data I have been able to identify two important patterns. Firstly, there is a clear presence of educational assortative mating in each country. However, the degree differs and it does so primarily as a reflection of the overall level of education in the country. Rising levels of education lower the returns for education, in turn making assortative mating comparatively less attractive. As a result, the level of assortative mating, compared to what would be expected under random conditions, is lower in highly educated nations. The lowered level of assortative mating in highly educated nations reduces the barriers to social mobility through marriage for those without university educations. Consequently, household income inequality is seen to be intrinsically related to assortative mating, although the outcomes can be mitigated by redistribution policies.</p>

Freiwilliges Engagement in der „Lebensphase Alter“. Eine kontrastierende Betrachtung von niedrig- und ­hochgebildeten Personen in der Altersgruppe 50+ mit dem Freiwilligensurvey 2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 349-374
Author(s):  
Frank Micheel
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Freiwilliges Engagement ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Low Educated

Zusammenfassung Aus der Literatur ist bekannt, dass der Zugang zum Freiwilligenbereich in der „Lebensphase Alter“ durch Bildungsnachteile systematisch erschwert wird. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert, welche Faktoren ein freiwilliges Engagement von älteren Niedriggebildeten begünstigen und wie stark sie im Vergleich zu Hochgebildeten wirken. Auf Basis des Freiwilligensurveys aus dem Jahr 2014 wird nach differenzierenden Merkmalen (demografische Merkmale, Ressourcen, persönliche Werte sowie kontextuelle Aspekte) zur Erklärung freiwilliger Aktivitäten innerhalb der beiden Bildungsgruppen untersucht. Aus den multivariaten Analysen lassen sich folgende politische Implikationen ableiten: Strukturelle Verbesserungen in der gesundheitlichen Versorgung, in den ostdeutschen Regionen sowie in der Stadt- und Sozialplanung erhöhen die Chancen für Niedriggebildete zur sozialen Teilhabe im Freiwilligenbereich. Auf der individuellen Ebene ist die Stärkung der wahrgenommenen Erwartungskompetenz ein vielversprechender Ansatz. Abstract: Volunteering in Old Age: A Comparison Between Low and Highly Educated Individuals Aged 50+ It is known from literature that access to volunteering in old age is systematically restricted by educational disadvantages. This article discusses which factors enable older people with low education to volunteering compared to highly educated people. Based on the German Survey on Volunteering from 2014, empirical investigations explore differentiated characteristics (demographics, resources, individual values and social aspects) explaining volunteering within both educational groups. The following political implications are derived from multivariate analyses: Structural improvements in the areas of healthcare provision, in Eastern Germany, as well as urban and social planning raise the odds for volunteering among the low educated. On the individual level, improving perceived self-efficacy is a promising approach.

scholarly journals Education and marriage: the shift from female hypergamy to hypogamy in Belgium, a 20th century cohort analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Nomes ◽  
Jan Van Bavel
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Cohort Analysis ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Common Pattern ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
Age At Marriage ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Log Linear

One of the key social trends of the 20th century has been the expansion of participation in education. Using detailed retrospective information from the 1981 and 2001 censuses, this paper investigates how this expansion is associated with major trends in nuptiality in Belgium. We focus specifically on the changing gender balance in education and how this is related to the likelihood and timing of marriage and to patterns of educational assortative mating. Our empirical analysis shows that marriage was getting more universal, happening at an earlier age and more often heterogamous in term of education over the cohorts born in the first half of the 20th century. In younger cohorts, when women’s levels of education caught up with men’s, the age at marriage as well as the degree of homogamy increased again. Homogamy remained dominant throughout, but while women tended to marry men who were at least as highly educated as themselves until the 1950s cohorts, in more recent cohorts, women have tended to marry men who are at most as highly educated as themselves. Hypogamy is now the second most common pattern, after homogamy. Controlling for changes in the distribution of educational attainment by applying a log-linear model, we find that part of the changes in assortative mating in Belgium may be explained by changes in mate preferences regarding education. Finally, we find that hypogamous marriages tend to be contracted at later ages than homogamous or hypergamous ones.

scholarly journals Educational Assortative Mating and Income Dynamics in Couples: A Longitudinal Dyadic Perspective

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Qian
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Spousal Influence ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Gender Change

The gender-gap reversal in education could have far-reaching consequences for marriage and family lives. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and longitudinal multilevel dyad models, this study investigated how educational assortative mating shaped income dynamics in couples over the marital life course. Based on educational assortative mating, couples were grouped into three categories—educational hypergamy (wives less educated than their husbands), homogamy, and hypogamy (wives more educated than their husbands). Results showed that change in husbands’ income with marital duration was similar across couples, whereas change in wives’ income varied by educational assortative mating such that wives in educational hypogamy exhibited more positive change in income over the marital life course. The findings underscored the asymmetric nature of spousal influence and gender change in heterosexual marriages.

The increasing educational divide in the life course development of subjective wellbeing across cohorts

2021 ◽  
pp. 000169932110556
Author(s):  
Alexander Patzina
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Growth Curve Models ◽  
Health Satisfaction ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Low Educated ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Income Satisfaction

Labour market, health, and wellbeing research provide evidence of increasing educational inequality as individuals age, representing a pattern consistent with the mechanism of cumulative (dis)advantage. However, individual life courses are embedded in cohort contexts that might alter life course differentiation processes. Thus, this study analyses cohort variations in education-specific life course patterns of subjective wellbeing (i.e. life, health and income satisfaction). Drawing upon prior work and theoretical considerations from life course theories, this study expects to find increasing educational life course inequality in younger cohorts. The empirical analysis relies on German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984–2016, v33). The results obtained from cohort-averaged random effects growth curve models confirm the cumulative (dis)advantage mechanism for educational life course inequality in subjective wellbeing. Furthermore, the results reveal substantial cohort variation in life course inequality patterns: regarding life and income satisfaction, the results indicate that the cumulative (dis)advantage mechanism does not apply to the youngest cohorts (individuals born between 1970 and 1985) under study. In contrast, the health satisfaction results suggest that educational life course inequality follows the predictions of the cumulative (dis)advantage mechanism only for individuals born after 1959. While the life course trajectories of highly educated individuals change only slightly across cohorts, the subjective wellbeing trajectories of low-educated individuals start to decline at earlier life course stages in younger cohorts, leading to increasing life course inequality over time. Thus, the overall findings of this study contribute to our understanding of whether predictions derived from sociological middle range theories are universal across societal contexts.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous Fertility Behavior among Highly Educated Women in Japan: The Effect of Educational Assortative Mating on First and Second Childbirth Using Diagonal Reference Model

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumiya Uchikoshi
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Event History Analysis ◽  
Marital Fertility ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Methodological Problem ◽  
Second Child ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
History Analysis ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
The Relationship

Prior studies have argued that changes in nuptial behavior are the main contributors to the decline in fertility in Japan and educational gradients in fertility are negligible. Recently, however, changes in marital fertility have also contributed to the decline in fertility. While the influence of women's educational attainment on fertility has only been paid attention, since fertility involves two partners and so it is also possible to focus on the influence of the male partner’s social status. Moreover, not only can each partner’s socioeconomic status, but also their combining as a couple (assortative mating), influence fertility. In spite of theoretical significance to examine the relationship between educational assortative mating and fertility, scholars face a methodological problem in examining an interaction of two variables. In this study, applying diagonal reference model to event history analysis, I estimated the effect of educational assortative mating on having first and second childbirth in Japan. A series of analysis revealed that homogamy couples of the high educated are less likely to have their second child than other types of educational coupling.

scholarly journals Germany's low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence confirms effective containment in 2020: Results of the nationwide RKI-SOEP study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannelore Neuhauser ◽  
Angelika Schaffrath Rosario ◽  
Hans Butschalowsky ◽  
Sebastian Haller ◽  
Jens Hoebel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infection Prevalence ◽  
Socioeconomic Groups ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Educational Group ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Seroprevalence Data ◽  
Nasal Swabs ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
Low Educated

Pre-vaccine SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence data from Germany are scarce outside hotspots, and socioeconomic disparities remained largely unexplored. The nationwide RKI-SOEP study with 15,122 adult participants investigated seroprevalence and testing in a supplementary wave of the Socio-Economic-Panel conducted predominantly in October-November 2020. Self-collected oral-nasal swabs were PCR-positive in 0.4% and Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2-S1-IgG ELISA from dry capillary blood in 1.3% (95% CI 0.9-1.7%, population-weighted, corrected for sensitivity=0.811, specificity=0.997). Seroprevalence was 1.7% (95% CI 1.2-2.3%) when additionally adjusting for antibody decay. Overall infection prevalence including self-reports was 2.1%. We estimate 45% (95% CI 21-60%) undetected cases and analyses suggest lower detection in socioeconomically deprived districts. Prior SARS-CoV-2 testing was reported by 18% from the lower educational group compared to 25% and 26% from the medium and high educational group (p<0.0001). Symptom-triggered test frequency was similar across educational groups. However, routine testing was more common in low-educated adults, whereas travel-related testing and testing after contact with an infected person was more common in highly educated groups. In conclusion, pre-vaccine SARS-CoV-2-seroprevalence in Germany was very low. Notified cases appear to capture more than half of infections but may underestimate infections in lower socioeconomic groups. These data confirm the successful containment strategy of Germany until winter 2020.

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