Trends and Variation in Assortative Mating: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

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 and differential fertility by phenotype and genotype across the 20th century

“…As observed by others, geographic, ethnic, and cultural determinants of spousal assortment declined over the course of the 20th century while assortment on individual attributes increased. In line with these observations, we hypothesized that genetic assortment on the social, mental, and physical characteristics we studied would have increased in tandem with the rising phenotypic assortative mating observed by others (33,34). We found that husbands and wives in the HRS were similar to each other, both phenotypically and genetically.…”

Genetic and socioeconomic study of mate choice in Latinos reveals novel assortment patterns

“…assortative mating | genomic ancestry | homogamy M ate selection in human populations is a topic of broad general and academic interest, with important implications for economics (1), sociology (2), psychology (3), and genetics (4,5). Studies from all of these fields have uncovered myriad genetic and socioeconomic factors that are correlated between partners.…”

Do Opposites Attract? Educational Assortative Mating and Dynamics of Wage Homogamy in Switzerland, 1992–2014

“…Some commentators have concluded that these economic processes have deepened the earning differences between low and high-educated individuals (Förster 2000). Similarly, the status attainment hypothesis used in sociology postulates that modernisation gives more importance to achieved characteristics such as education than to ascribed characteristics such as ethnicity or social origin (Schwartz 2013;Goode 1963).…”

“…Assortative mating can contribute to the transmission of economic status (Kremer 1997;Chadwick and Solon 2002;Black and Devereux 2011) and can be a potential driver of income inequality because societies in which similar earners intermarry are more unequal than those in which high earners marry low earners (Esping-Andersen 2007;Schwartz 2010;2013). Education is an important factor that affects the social status of individuals and consequently the level of economic inequalities (Sweeney and Cancian 2004).…”

“…1 For this reason, researchers should also investigate other relevant characteristics (Schwartz 2013). Third, most papers on economic assortative mating analyse annual earnings, which are determined not only by hourly wage, but also by labour supply (Dribe and Nystedt 2013).…”