Trends and Variation in Assortative Mating
Causes and Consequences
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7635341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christine R Schwartz (0000-0001-8407-1065, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706;) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 451-470 |
| Publication date | 2013-07-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Sociology (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0360-0572 • E-ISSN: 1545-2115 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145544 |
| OpenAlex | W2109733935 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 381 |
| References cited | 130 |
Assortative mating fundamentally shapes the characteristics of families and the reproduction of populations. It organizes people into families and determines the characteristics of parents. In this article, I review the literature on the causes and consequences of trends and variation in assortative mating. Explanations for why assortative mating varies have been dominated by modernization theory, but perspectives emphasizing economic inequality and gender inequality have gained momentum in recent years. Underexplored is how changes in the structure of search have affected mate selection. The idea that assortative mating affects inequality and population composition is one of the primary motivations for its study but, until recently, has rarely been tested empirically. I review the literature on the consequences of assortative mating for (a) inequality within generations, (b) inequality between generations, (c) long-run population change, and (d) relationship quality and dissolution. I conclude with suggestions for future research
Assortative mating · Biology · Demographic economics · Economics · Inequality · Mating · Population · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Demography · Ecology
The Structure of Inter-Occupational Marriages in the United States 1970-2021
Good People and Getting Along
One overworking breadwinner or two earners? Family economic standard of living by breadwinner arrangement, 1960 to 2018–2022
Is educational assortative mating passed down through generations? Evidence from Europe
Blurring the Marriage Market? Contemporary Patterns of Multiracial Marriage
Cohort Fertility and Couple Educational Pairing
Too picky to be picked? Minimum mate standards explain number of years spent single, in uncommitted and committed relationships
Christian Marriage in Lebanon’s Inter-Confessional Context
Festivalized marriage as a Time Threshold
Expectant Fathers’ Intuitive Parenting
Assortative Mating
Family Law in the United States
The Genetics of Success
Assortative mating and couple similarity
Signs of Social Class
From status to soul
Hispanic Men's Earnings Mobility Across Immigrant Generations
First- and Second-Generation Women's Economic Assimilation
Gender Differences in the Geographic Breadth of Job Search
Postdivorce family complexity and child problems
Migration and educational assortative mating in India
Are women who marry eldest sons happier? Evidence from Japan
Racial/ethnic and educational disparities in married and cohabiting individuals’ propensity to form interracial unions
More Gender Equality, More Homogamy? A Cohort Comparison in Six European Countries
Educational Expansion and Homogamy. An Analysis of the Consequences of Educational Upgrading for Assortative Mating in Switzerland
Do Opposites Attract? Educational Assortative Mating and Dynamics of Wage Homogamy in Switzerland, 1992–2014
Educational Homogamy and Inter-Couple Income Inequality
Healthy couple, better sleep
The impact of education level on marital satisfaction
Changes in assortative matching and educational inequality
Female education, marital assortative mating, and dowry
Degrees of Connection
Merit and ressentiment
Relative Income Status Within Marriage and Subjective Well-Being in China
Footbinding and its cessation
Material Hardship and the Living Arrangements of Older Americans
How Do Households Fare Economically When Mothers Become Their Primary Financial Support
Assortative (online) dating
Swipe right? Using beauty filters in male Tinder profiles reduces women's evaluations of trustworthiness but increases physical attractiveness and dating intention
Educational hypogamy and female employment in rural India
Mate selection in China
Choosing a career partner
When less conditioning provides better estimates
Who partners up? Homogamy and income inequality in New Zealand cities
Trends in spousal age difference at first marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa
Planning for a delay? Horizontal stratification in higher education and the intended age at marriage
A meta-analysis on observed paternal and maternal sensitivity
Crossing Which Boundary? New Evidence on Racial and Educational Assortative Mating among Recent Different-Sex and Same-Sex Marriages
Age‐dissimilar couple relationships
Breaking secular endogamy. The growth of intermarriage among the Gitanos/Calé of Spain (1900–2006)
Women’s Higher Education, Assortative Mating, and Empowerment
Opportunity and change in occupational assortative mating
Who Remains Single? Educational Gradients in Long-Term Singlehood Across Ethnic Groups
Reducing Income Inequality in Educational Attainment
Learning to Become a Science Talent
Construction of Matches in Dating Platforms
A Multivariate Study of Human Mate Preferences
Beauty and the beast
Preadolescents’ Perceptions of Parental Emotion Socialization Responses to Positive Emotions
Horizontal stratification and educational homogamy in South Korea
Toward a formal sociological model of partner search
From peers to partners
Why Who Marries Whom Matters
Class Inequality in Parental Childcare Time
Preferences in the Early Stages of Mate Choice
Hui Muslims’ Endogamy and Intermarriages
Classed Pathways to Marriage
Family and household sources of poverty for Black, Hispanic, and White newborns
Multiracial Children's Experiences of Family Instability
Are Increasing Earnings Associations between Partners of Concern for Inequality? A Comparative Study of 21 Countries
Reinforcing the Racial Structure
Patterns and Trends of Same-Sex Partner Choice in Germany
The Transmission of Multigenerational Educational Inequality
Fields, features, and filters
Assortative Mating and Wealth Inequalities Between and Within Households
Education and Contributory Pensions at Work
What Makes a Desirable Spouse in China? New Evidence From a National Survey Experiment
Why do partners often prefer the same political parties? Evidence from couples in Germany
What is your type? Latent classes of newly married couples' gender ideologies
Riqueza e status entre mulheres negras no Brasil
Lasso Regularization for Selection of Log-linear Models
The rise of online dating and racial homogamy in marriage
Decomposing patterns of college marital sorting in 118 countries
The keys to the house - How wealth transfers stratify homeownership opportunities
Family matters
Gender, union formation, and assortative mating among older women
Does school learning shape gender ideology? Academic performance and adolescents' attitudes toward gender practices
Decomposing trends in educational homogamy and heterogamy - The case of Ireland
Income inequality and educational assortative mating
Partner selection and social capital in the status attainment process
The unequal consequences of family structures for infant health
Social mobility and partnering. The salience of mobility homogamy
Boundary crossing in first marriage and remarriage
Achieved or ascribed? The trajectory of family background and educational assortative mating in China over four decades
Does higher education expansion promote educational homogamy? Evidence from married couples of the post-80s generation in Shanghai, China
Does College Enrollment and Bachelor's Completion by Mothers Impact Children's Educational Outcomes
Doing Gender, Doing Surveys? Women's Gatekeeping and Men's Non-Participation in Multi-Actor Reproductive Surveys
Les évolutions de l'homogamie de diplôme, de classe et d'origine sociales en France (1969-2011)
What Role do Soviet Nationalities Play in Regulating the Marital Behavior in Dagestan
The Network Expression of a Roma Diaspora
World Revolution and Family Patterns.
Who Marries Whom?
Women and Men at Work
How Much does Sorting Increase Inequality?
The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Employment, Education, and Family
Matching and Sorting in Online Dating
Sorting and Long-Run Inequality
Gender Differences in Mate Selection
“But Will It Last?”
Understanding the gender gap
Assimilation in American life
Introduction to the Science of Sociology
The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk and Trust Attitudes
Match Quality, New Information, and Marital Dissolution
Remaking the American Mainstream
The Effect of Male Wage Inequality on Female Age at First Marriage
How new media affords network diversity
"Living in sin" and marriage
The joint influence of mother and father parenting on child cognitive outcomes at age 5
Immigration and Intermarriage Among Hispanics
The romance of college attendance
Still Weak Support for Status‐Caste Exchange
Remarriage, Delayed Marriage, and Black/White Intermarriage, 1968–1995
Waiting for Mr. Right
Trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003
The Proximate Determinants of Educational Homogamy
Educational assortative mating and economic inequality
International Migration and Educational Assortative Mating in Mexico and the United States
Educational Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in Denmark
Pathways to educational homogamy in marital and cohabiting unions
Educational assortative mating across marriage markets
Estimating a marriage matching model with spillover effects
Broken Boundaries or Broken Marriages? Racial Intermarriage and Divorce in the U nited S tates
Racial, Educational and Religious Endogamy in the United States
Religious Intermarriage and Socialization in the United States
The New Second Generation
Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital Selection
Educational Homogamy Among Married and Unmarried Couples in Europe
Variation in the Relationship Between Education and Marriage
Educational Homogamy in 65 Countries
The American occupational structure
"The Benefits of Facebook "Friends
Religious Identity and Church Attendance of Sons of Religious Intermarriages
Shifting Boundaries
Changes in American Marriage, 1972 to 1987
Inequality among American Families with Children, 1975 to 2005
The Religious Identification of Children of Interfaith Marriages
Five Decades of Educational Assortative Mating
Social Boundaries and Marital Assimilation
How Puerto Rico Became White
Some mechanisms linking economic inequality and infant mortality
Bringing Intergenerational Social Mobility Research into the Twenty-first Century
The Intergenerational Effects of Changes in Women's Educational Attainments
Marriage Market Mismatches in Japan
Two Decades of Family Change
Interracial Relationships and the Transition to Adulthood
The Independence of Young Adults and the Rise of Interracial and Same-Sex Unions
Searching for a Mate
Sibling Correlations and Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America
Intermarriage and the risk of divorce in the Netherlands
The Gender-Gap Reversal in Education and Its Effect on Union Formation
Young Adulthood as a Factor in Social Change in the United States
Women's Rising Employment and the Future of the Family in Industrial Societies
Recent Trends in the Size Distribution of Household Wealth
Marital Happiness and Inter-Racial Marriage
Assortative Meeting and Mating
Parenting Across Racial and Class Lines
Five Decades of Educational Assortative Mating in 10 East Asian Societies
Marriage Timing and Educational Assortative Mating
Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing, Marital Prospects and Mate Selection
Changing Intergroup Boundaries in Brazilian Marriages
Trends in educational assortative marriage in China from 1970 to 2000
Religious Belief, Transmission, and the Family
Intermarriage
Sociodemographic Differentials in Mate Selection Preferences
The Role of Cohabitation in Declining Rates of Marriage
After Intermarriage
Consequences of Racial Intermarriage for Children's Social Integration
Intermarriage in Caste Societies1
Factors Contributing to Increasing Marital Stability in the United States
Marriage Markets and Marital Choice
Mate Selection Among Married and Cohabiting Couples
Women and Class Analysis
Individual or Family? Results from Two Approaches to Class Assignment
Family Structure and the Reproduction of Inequalities
Birds of a Feather
Intermarriage and Homogamy
Women's Employment and the Gain to Marriage
Income Inequality
Women, Family and Class
Educational Assortative Marriage in Comparative Perspective
Changing Patterns of Interracial Marriage in a Multiracial Society
Marital Dissolution Among Interracial Couples
A Half Century of Mate Preferences
Homogamy Among Dating, Cohabiting, and Married Couples
The changing importance of white women's economic prospects for assortative mating
The deinstitutionalization of American marriage
Mate Selection in Cyberspace
The Three Worlds of Inequality
Educational Assortative Mating and Earnings Inequality in the United States
| Unique citing works | 381 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 31,75 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 371 |