A Comparison of Mathematical Models for the Effect of Residential Propinquity on Mate Selection

Bibliographic Data

ID5249294
AuthorsWilliam R Catton, R J Smircich
Year1964
Volume29
Issue4
Pages522
Publication date1964-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2091201
OpenAlexW2320453350
LanguageEN
Citations received27

The consequence is a reduction in the opportunities for friction. It is possible, too, that the generally older marriage age in Australia, by at least permitting a longer period of courtship, reduces the risk of mismatching and hence of marital disharmony.3' Finally, we might look to the Australian environment itself for an explanation of the lower Australian divorce rate. In terms of relative material prosperity, freedom from anxiety occasioned by international and domestic crises, climate, and general ease of living, Australia appears to present fewer day-to-day problems-or, at least, to offer more opportunity to adjust to them, if by no other means than resort to various mechanisms of withdrawal, including mateship. Although the population is largely concentrated in five metropolitan areas, residential crowding is rare, the magnificent beaches are easily reached and completely free of charge, and ready access can be had to seemingly limitless open space inland. Moreover, the generally mild, sunny weather is conducive to outdoor recreation all year round. If frequent escape into the out-ofdoors can render a not-so-happy marriage more tolerable (or create a more favorable setting for sharing recreational and other interests), Australian couples would seem to have an environment less conducive to divorce than that available to most Americans. All things considered, then, I would suggest that divorce is less frequent in Australia than in the United States partly because it is less available (largely in the non-legal sense), partly because at least one alternative remedy for marital disharmony (viz., mateship) is more available, and partly because there is less marital disharmony. But these are only impressions as to the causal elements involved. The differences in patterns of divorce between Australia and the United States are firmly established. It is accounting for these differences that now poses the challenge to research. Australian pattern has been noted by a number of observers. See, e.g., D. H. Lawrence, Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker, 1923; Jeanne MacKenzie, op. cit., especially chs. 8 and 9; Sidney J. Baker, The Drum: Australian Character and Slang, Sydney: Currawong Publishing Co., 1959, ch. 4; and John Douglas Pringle, Australian Accent, London: Chatto and Windus, 1958, ch. 2. 31 The widely held belief that younger marriage ages necessarily lead to more divorce, however, receives no confirmation in calculations we have made (on the basis of marriage cohorts) of Australian divorce rates in the 1950's. See Lincoln H. Day, op. cit

Econometrics · Selection (genetic algorithm · Statistics · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Land Rights and Reforms · Mathematics · Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub