Marrying Up? Trends in Age and Education Gaps Among Married Couples in Indonesia

Bibliographic Data

ID2347464
AuthorsAriane Utomo (0000-0003-2314-9513, Australian National University, corresponding author), Ariane J Utomo (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia)
Year2014
Volume35
Issue12
Pages1683-1706
Publication date2014-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Family Issues (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0192-513X • E-ISSN: 1552-5481
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192513x14538023
OpenAlexW2107325637
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited31

Using Indonesian National Socioeconomic Surveys, this article outlines the trends in spousal differences in age and educational attainment from a sample of matched husband-wife data in the early 1980s and 2010. The spousal age gap has declined from 6.4 to 4.7 in the three decades. A trend in assortative mating is maintained as 50% of married couples have equal education levels in both 1982 and 2010. The proportion of women marrying someone of higher education is declining, and conversely, the proportion of women 'marrying down' is rising. Higher level of wife's education and increasing age at first marriage are found to be negatively associated with spousal age gap. Along with development, social change, and the recent accomplishment toward gender parity across all education levels in the country, changing patterns in such gaps are bound to transform gender relations and the power dynamics within Indonesian families

Assortative mating · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Gender gap · Geography · Higher education · Indonesian · Political science · Population · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Wife · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving

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