Search Results

Author: Tan, Ruoding
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Tan, Ruoding
Bennett, Neil G.
Spouse Selection the Second Time Around
Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2012
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Homogamy; Marriage

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Based on a nationally representative sample drawn from the 1979-2008 waves of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), we examine the changes in spousal choice that occur between women’s first and second unions in the context of a changing pool of available potential spouses on various dimensions, including age, educational level at marriage, and race. Specifically, we test two hypotheses: (1) The supply of marriageable men is associated with women’s spousal choice in first and in second marriages, and (2) If the number of available single men as potential husbands is limited, women are forced to “cast a wider net” and marry men very different from themselves. We find empirical evidence that lends support to these hypotheses. Our results show that a more diverse and smaller pool of marriageable men will limit women’s ability to realize their changing preferences and lower the likelihood of a homogamous match in second marriages.
Bibliography Citation
Tan, Ruoding and Neil G. Bennett. "Spouse Selection the Second Time Around." Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2012.
2. Thomas, Christopher
Tan, Ruoding
Bennett, Neil G.
Structural Opportunity and Individual Preference: The Determinants of Spouse Selection in Second Marriages
Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Assortative Mating; Marital History/Transitions; Remarriage

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In the context of fundamental changes in union formation, union dissolution, and assortative mating in the U.S. in recent decades, we still do not fully understand the structural and individual factors driving spouse selection the second time around. Based on a nationally representative sample drawn from the 1979-2014 waves of the geocoded National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we test three hypotheses: 1) Women's spousal choice in first and in second marriages is associated with the composition of the local pool of unmarried men; 2) if the number of available single men as potential husbands is limited, a woman will be more likely to marry heterogamously; and 3) independent of the composition of remarriage markets, divorced women will change their preference toward homogamy in the second marital search. We find preliminary empirical evidence supporting these hypotheses, suggesting that changes in spouse selection in second marriages are due to both structural changes in remarriage markets and changing individual preferences.
Bibliography Citation
Thomas, Christopher, Ruoding Tan and Neil G. Bennett. "Structural Opportunity and Individual Preference: The Determinants of Spouse Selection in Second Marriages." Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019.