Hitching
Assessing Racial and Educational Segmentation in Large Marriage Markets
Edoardo Ciscato
Review of Economic Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
Complementarities between partners' characteristics are often held responsible for the patterns of assortative mating observed in marriage markets along different dimensions, such as race and education. However, when the marriage market is segmented into racially and educationally homogeneous clusters, people naturally have more match opportunities with their likes. In this paper, we build an empirically tractable dynamic matching model with endogenous separation and remarriage. In every period, agents participate in a competitive assignment game in the vein of Choo and Siow (2006), where mating strategies depend on both the expected match gains and search frictions in the form of meeting costs. We leverage panel data on the duration of both non-cohabiting and cohabiting relationships to jointly estimate both determinants of assortative mating with a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population. We show that, in the absence of search frictions, the share of matches between people of the same race (education) would decrease from 88.2% (49.2%) to 55.5% (40.8%), as opposed to 53.3% (33.5%) if singles were randomly matched. As a result, search frictions explain nearly all the racial homogamy observed in the data, but only approximately half of the observed educational homogamy, with the other half attributed to match complementarities. In a counterfactual exercise, we show that minority groups experiencing an unfavorable gender ratio when marriage markets are segmented, such as Hispanic men and black women, would benefit from access to a broader and more diverse pool of partners.
Peer Effects and Marriage Formation
Abigail Wozniak, Michael Baker & Susan Carter
Federal Reserve Working Paper, November 2024
Abstract:
A large literature links marriage to later life outcomes for children and adults. Marriage has declined markedly in the U.S. over the last 50 years, particularly among individuals with less than a baccalaureate degree, yet the causes of the decline are not well understood. In this paper we provide causal evidence on one potential mechanism for the observed marriage rate patterns: peer effects. We use administrative personnel data from the U.S. Army to study how peers influence marriage decisions for junior enlisted soldiers arriving to their first assignment from 2001-2018, a setting which features substantial variation in peer group marriage rates and conditional random assignment to peer groups. We find that exposure to the 75th versus 25th percentile of our identifying variation in peer marriage rates increases the likelihood that an unmarried individual marries within two years of assignment by 1.9 percent. We show that lateral peers and near supervisors alike influence marriage decisions and we argue that our results are most consistent with conformist behavior, where peers influence marriage decisions through role-modeling and group social norms. The effect of peers is larger for men, and for Black and Hispanic men, in particular. While the effect of peers attenuates after 36 months for white and Hispanic men, effects persist and continue to grow over time for Black men, suggesting that our results are not fully explained by re-timing. We benchmark our estimates against previous research and argue that the effect of peers on individual marriage decisions is economically meaningful.
Casting the Right Net: Childhood Socioeconomic Status Predicts Self-Perceived Mate Value and Mating Standards After Financial Threat
Katja Cunningham et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Environmental stress promotes accelerated mating goals among adults with low childhood socioeconomic status (CSES). However, little is known about proximal psychological changes that would need to co-occur with shifting mating goals to ensure their success. Across five studies, we tested the possibility that one such change may occur in individuals' self-perceived mate value, as lower self-perceived mate value could widen the pool of available partners by lowering one's standards for suitable mates. An internal meta-analysis of the five studies revealed adults with low CSES reported lower mate value following exposure to financial threat (relative to control). Furthermore, lower self-perceived mate value predicted lower standards for indirect mating benefits and increased perceived compatibility with low-quality partners (Studies 2a-3). Similar responses were not observed among individuals from high CSES environments. The current research provides insight into one set of psychological changes that may facilitate accelerated mating goals in response to environmental stressors.
Bless her heart: Gossip phrased with concern provides advantages in female intrasexual competition
Tania Reynolds, Jon Maner & Roy Baumeister
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, January 2025
Abstract:
Although many women report being victimized by gossip, fewer report spreading negative gossip. Female gossipers might be unaware they are gossiping if they disclose such statements out of concern for targets. Four studies (N = 1709) investigated whether women believe their gossip is motivated by concern and whether expressing concern for targets insulates female gossipers against social costs, while simultaneously impairing targets' reputations. Study 1 examined sex differences in gossip motivations. Compared to men, women endorsed stronger concern than harm motivations, especially when gossiping about other women, suggesting these motivations characterize female intrasexual gossip. In Study 2, female gossipers who phrased their negative gossip with concern (versus maliciously or neutrally) were evaluated as more trustworthy and desirable as social and romantic partners. Study 3 replicated the favorable evaluations of concerned female gossipers. Female participants especially disliked malicious female gossipers, suggesting professions of concern might help to avoid women's scorn. Male participants reported lower romantic interest in female gossip targets when they learned concern (versus malicious or no) gossip, suggesting concerned gossip can harm female targets' romantic prospects. Study 4 revealed these patterns extend to face-to-face interactions. A female gossiper was preferred as a social partner when she phrased her gossip with concern versus maliciously. Moreover, concerned gossip harmed perceptions of the female target as effectively as malicious gossip. Altogether, findings suggest that negative gossip delivered with concern effectively harms female targets' reputations, while also protecting gossipers' reputations, indicating a viable strategy in female intrasexual competition.
Sexual Desire is not Partner-Specific: Evidence for a Positive Association Between Desire for One's Romantic Partner and Desire for Alternative Partners
Sierra Peters, Jon Maner & Andrea Meltzer
Human Nature, September 2024, Pages 323-346
Abstract:
One longitudinal study of married couples and one experiment tested the hypothesis that the experience of sexual desire for an alternative sexual partner might heighten feelings of desire for one's long-term romantic partner, and conversely, sexual desire for one's long-term partner might heighten desire for alternative partners. A daily-diary study of newlywed couples revealed that (a) on days people reported heightened interest in alternative partners, they also reported increased desire to have sex with their partner and (b) on days people reported heightened desire to have sex with their partner, they also reported increased interest in alternative partners. An experimental study of partnered individuals revealed that people primed with sexual desire for an alternative partner reported increased sexual desire for their romantic partner (relative to a control condition). People primed with sexual desire for their romantic partner, however, did not report increased sexual desire for alternatives. Taken together, these findings support evolutionary perspectives on the function of sexual desire. Findings are consistent with the broader hypothesis that sexual desire is not partner-specific.