Stockholm University Demography Unit (SUDA), Sociology Department, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm University Demography Unit (SUDA), Sociology Department, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Biol Lett. 2018 Sep 26;14(9):20180475. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0475.
Work from social and biological sciences has shown that adult sex ratios are associated with relationship behaviours. When partners are abundant, opportunities for mate switching may increase and relationship stability decrease. To date, most of the human literature has used regional areas at various levels of aggregation to define partner markets. But, in developed countries, many individuals of reproductive age spend a considerable amount of time outside their residential areas, and other measures may better capture the opportunities to meet a (new) partner. Here, we use Danish register data to test whether the sex ratio of the occupational sector is linked to divorce. Our data cover individuals in Denmark who married during 1981-2002 and we control for age at and duration of marriage, education and parity. Results support the prediction that a higher proportion of opposite-sex individuals in one's occupational sector is associated with higher divorce risk. This holds for both men and women, but associations are somewhat stronger for men and vary by education. Our results highlight the need to study demographic behaviours of men and women simultaneously, and to consider partner markets beyond geographical areas so that differing strategies for males and females may be examined.
社会科学和生物科学的研究表明，成年性别比例与人际关系行为有关。当伴侣充足时，伴侣更换的机会可能会增加，而关系稳定性可能会降低。迄今为止，大多数人类文献都使用不同层次的区域来定义伴侣市场。但是，在发达国家，许多处于生育年龄的个人会在其居住区域之外花费大量时间，而其他措施可能更好地捕捉到结识（新）伴侣的机会。在这里，我们使用丹麦登记数据来检验职业领域的性别比例是否与离婚有关。我们的数据涵盖了 1981 年至 2002 年期间结婚的丹麦个人，并控制了婚姻的年龄和持续时间、教育程度和生育次数。结果支持了这样的预测，即一个人职业领域中异性的比例越高，离婚风险就越高。这对男性和女性都适用，但对男性的关联更强，而且因教育程度而异。我们的结果强调了需要同时研究男性和女性的人口行为，并考虑超越地理区域的伴侣市场，以便检验男性和女性的不同策略。
