Department of Sociology, Brown University, Box 1916, 108 George Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Departments of Policy Analysis and Management and Sociology, Cornell University, 2314 MVR, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
Demography. 2018 Jun;55(3):849-875. doi: 10.1007/s13524-018-0671-x.
Drawing on data from the American Community Survey, we compare patterns of assortative mating in first marriages, remarriages, and mixed-order marriages. We identify a number of ascribed and achieved characteristics that are viewed as resources available for exchange, both as complements and substitutes. We apply conditional logit models to show how patterns of assortative mating among never-married and previously married persons are subject to local marriage market opportunities and constraints. The results reveal that previously married individuals "cast a wider net": spousal pairings are more heterogamous among remarriages than among first marriages. Marital heterogamy, however, is reflected in systematic evidence of trade-offs showing that marriage order (i.e., status of being never-married) is a valued trait for exchange. Never-married persons are better positioned than previously married persons to marry more attractive marital partners, variously measured (e.g., highly educated partners). Previously married persons-especially women-are disadvantaged in the marriage market, facing demographic shortages of potential partners to marry. Marriage market constraints take demographic expression in low remarriage rates and in heterogamous patterns of mate selection in which previously married partners often substitute other valued characteristics in marriage with never-married persons.
利用美国社区调查的数据，我们比较了初婚、再婚和混合顺序婚姻中的匹配模式。我们确定了一些被视为可用于交换的既有和获得的特征，它们既可以互补，也可以替代。我们应用条件逻辑回归模型来展示未婚和已婚人士之间的匹配模式如何受到当地婚姻市场机会和限制的影响。结果表明，已婚人士“撒网更广”：再婚中的配偶组合比初婚中的更具异质性。然而，婚姻的异质性反映了在有系统的权衡证据中，婚姻顺序（即未婚状态）是一种有价值的交换特征。未婚人士比已婚人士更有优势，可以选择更有吸引力的婚姻伴侣，这些伴侣可以通过各种方式来衡量（例如，高学历的伴侣）。已婚人士，尤其是女性，在婚姻市场上处于不利地位，面临潜在伴侣人数不足的问题，无法再婚。婚姻市场的限制在低再婚率和配偶选择的异质性模式中表现出来，在这种模式中，已婚伴侣通常用其他有价值的特征来代替未婚人士。
