Taken
Executive control of married and cohabiting couples
Geneviève Bouchard & Jean Saint-Aubin
Personality and Individual Differences, May 2015, Pages 58–62
Abstract:
Attention mechanisms of 125 couples were assessed to determine whether married and cohabiting couples differ in their levels of executive control. Executive control is the attention network that is responsible for resolving cognitive conflicts among competing responses. Of the 125 couples, 85 were married (48 after premarital cohabitation) and 40 were in cohabiting unions. Executive control was assessed with a cognitive task, the Attentional Network Task. The participants’ task was to identify the direction of a central arrow that was surrounded by flanker arrows. As predicted, cohabiting couples exhibited stronger deficits in executive control than married ones, after controlling for demographic confounders. Moreover, similar differences in executive control were observed between the subsample of married couples who cohabited with their spouses prior to marriage and currently cohabiting couples. Taken together, our results reveal that cohabiting couples have more trouble responding to some stimuli while ignoring extraneous stimuli.
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From Polygyny to Serial Monogamy: A Unified Theory of Marriage Institutions
David de la Croix & Fabio Mariani
Review of Economic Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
Marriage institutions have changed over time, evolving from polygyny to monogamy, and then to serial monogamy (as defined by divorce and remarriage). We propose a unified theory of such institutional changes, where the dynamics of income distribution are the driving force. We characterize the marriage-market equilibrium in each of the three alternative regimes, and determine which one emerges as a political equilibrium, depending on the state of the economy. In a two class society, a rise in the share of rich males drives the change from polygyny to monogamy. The introduction of serial monogamy follows from a further rise in the proportion of either rich females or rich males. Monogamy eases the transition to serial monogamy, since it promotes social mobility.
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Sex ratio effects on reproductive strategies in humans
Ryan Schacht & Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
Royal Society Open Science, January 2015
Abstract:
Characterizations of coy females and ardent males are rooted in models of sexual selection that are increasingly outdated. Evolutionary feedbacks can strongly influence the sex roles and subsequent patterns of sex differentiated investment in mating effort, with a key component being the adult sex ratio (ASR). Using data from eight Makushi communities of southern Guyana, characterized by varying ASRs contingent on migration, we show that even within a single ethnic group, male mating effort varies in predictable ways with the ASR. At male-biased sex ratios, men's and women's investment in mating effort are indistinguishable; only when men are in the minority are they more inclined towards short-term, low investment relationships than women. Our results support the behavioural ecological tenet that reproductive strategies are predictable and contingent on varying situational factors.
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Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint
David Pedulla & Sarah Thébaud
American Sociological Review, February 2015, Pages 116-139
Abstract:
Why has progress toward gender equality in the workplace and at home stalled in recent decades? A growing body of scholarship suggests that persistently gendered workplace norms and policies limit men’s and women’s ability to create gender egalitarian relationships at home. In this article, we build on and extend prior research by examining the extent to which institutional constraints, including workplace policies, affect young, unmarried men’s and women’s preferences for their future work-family arrangements. We also examine how these effects vary across education levels. Drawing on original survey-experimental data, we ask respondents how they would like to structure their future relationships while experimentally manipulating the degree of institutional constraint under which they state their preferences. Two clear patterns emerge. First, as constraints are removed and men and women can opt for an egalitarian relationship, the majority choose this option, regardless of gender or education level. Second, women’s relationship structure preferences are more responsive than men’s to the removal of institutional constraints through supportive work-family policy interventions. These findings shed light on important questions about the role of institutions in shaping work-family preferences, underscoring the notion that seemingly gender-traditional work-family decisions are largely contingent on the constraints of current workplaces.
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Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence
Dan Anderberg et al.
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does rising unemployment really increase domestic violence as many commentators expect? The contribution of this paper is to examine how changes in unemployment affect the incidence of domestic abuse. Theory predicts that male and female unemployment have opposite-signed effects on domestic abuse: an increase in male unemployment decreases the incidence of intimate partner violence, while an increase in female unemployment increases domestic abuse. Combining data on intimate partner violence from the British Crime Survey with locally disaggregated labour market data from the UK's Annual Population Survey, we find strong evidence in support of the theoretical prediction.
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Partner Choice and the Marital College Premium: Analyzing Marital Patterns Over Several Decades
Pierre-Andre Chiappori, Bernard Salanie & Yoram Weiss
Columbia University Working Paper, February 2015
Abstract:
We construct a structural model of household decision-making and matching and estimate the returns to schooling within marriage. We consider agents with idiosyncratic preferences for marriage that may be correlated with education, and we allow the education levels of spouses to interact in producing joint surplus. Using US data on marriages of individuals born between 1943 and 1972, we show that the preference for assortative matching by education has significantly increased for the white population, particularly for highly educated individuals; but not for blacks. Moreover, in line with theoretical predictions, we find that the marital college-plus premium has increased for women but not for men.
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Male and Female Marriage Returns to Schooling
Gustaf Bruze
International Economic Review, February 2015, Pages 207–234
Abstract:
A collective marriage matching model is estimated and calibrated to quantify the share of returns to schooling that is realized through marriage. The predictions of the model are matched with detailed Danish household data on the relationship between schooling and wage rates, the division of time and goods within the household, and the extent to which men and women sort positively on several traits in marriage. Counterfactual analysis conducted with the model suggests that Danish men and women are earning on the order of half of their returns to schooling through improved marital outcomes.
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A Longitudinal Analysis of Romantic Relationship Formation: The Effect of Prosocial Behavior
Olga Stavrova & Daniel Ehlebracht
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
In line with the sexual selection for altruism hypothesis, research has shown that men and women typically prefer hypothetical partners who are described as prosocial to otherwise similar individuals. In this study, we consider this hypothesis in the real world by examining whether prosocial behavior conveys actual benefits in terms of real-life mating success. Using a nationally representative annual panel data set, we examine the impact of single individuals’ prosocial behavior on their probabilities of finding a steady partner in the course of the following year. Our results show that single individuals who frequently engaged in prosocial behavior had substantially higher chances of being in a stable relationship the following year. The effect persisted even after accounting for individual differences in the Big Five personality traits and the degree of social involvement.
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How's Life at Home? New Evidence on Marriage and the Set Point for Happiness
John Helliwell & Shawn Grover
NBER Working Paper, December 2014
Abstract:
Subjective well-being research has often found that marriage is positively correlated with well-being. Some have argued that this correlation may be result of happier people being more likely to marry. Others have presented evidence suggesting that the well-being benefits of marriage are short-lasting. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, we control individual pre-marital well-being levels and find that the married are still more satisfied, suggesting a causal effect, even after full allowance is made for selection effects. Using new data from the United Kingdom's Annual Population Survey, we find that the married have a less deep U-shape in life satisfaction across age groups than do the unmarried, indicating that marriage may help ease the causes of the mid-life dip in life satisfaction and that the benefits of marriage are unlikely to be short-lived. We explore friendship as a mechanism which could help explain a causal relationship between marriage and life satisfaction, and find that well-being effects of marriage are about twice as large for those whose spouse is also their best friend. Finally, we use the Gallup World Poll to show that although the overall well-being effects of marriage appear to vary across cultural contexts, marriage eases the middle-age dip in life evaluations for all regions except Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Nonmarital Fertility, Union History, and Women’s Wealth
Matthew Painter, Adrianne Frech & Kristi Williams
Demography, February 2015, Pages 153-182
Abstract:
We use more than 20 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to examine wealth trajectories among mothers following a nonmarital first birth. We compare wealth according to union type and union stability, and we distinguish partners by biological parentage of the firstborn child. Net of controls for education, race/ethnicity, and family background, single mothers who enter into stable marriages with either a biological father or stepfather experience significant wealth advantages over time (more than $2,500 per year) relative to those who marry and divorce, cohabit, or remain unpartnered. Sensitivity analyses adjusting for unequal selection into marriage support these findings and demonstrate that race (but not ethnicity) and age at first birth structure mothers’ access to later marriage. We conclude that not all single mothers have equal access to marriage; however, marriage, union stability, and paternity have distinct roles for wealth accumulation following a nonmarital birth.
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Jenny Wagner et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Personality development in young adulthood has been associated with the experience of a number of new social roles. However, the causal interpretation of these findings is complicated by the fact that it is not possible to randomize young adults by their life experiences. To address this problem in the context of the first partnership experience, we applied propensity score matching to a sample of initially inexperienced singles and followed them across 4 years. Using matched samples, results indicated that the first partnership experience relatively robustly increased life satisfaction. The first partnership experience between the ages of 23 and 25 (but not in other ages) was also related to higher self-esteem, extraversion, and conscientiousness and to lower neuroticism. The discussion highlights the effect of the first partnership on the development of a mature personality and the potential for propensity score matching to make useful contributions to social and personality research.
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Black Marriage Through the Prism of Gender, Race, and Class
Kecia Johnson & Karyn Loscocco
Journal of Black Studies, March 2015, Pages 142-171
Abstract:
Marriage continues to be a major life goal in the United States. The grim news about the state of Black heterosexual marriage can be found in headlines that bemoan the lack of marriageable Black men, and statistical studies that routinely show Black marriages are difficult to maintain. We argue that the stresses on Black marriages are best understood by looking at them through a prism that highlights the intersection of gender and race. We show that the role of Black wife is particularly challenging. When people reason from an unquestioned White model of marriage and relationships, they often suggest that there is something pathological about the marital patterns of Blacks. Yet using the race/gender prism, we construct an argument that these patterns are pioneering and call into question the logic of the White middle-class model of intimate relationships between women and men.
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Catherine Elizabeth Kaukinen & Ráchael Powers
Violence Against Women, February 2015, Pages 229-248
Abstract:
National data from Canada and the United States are used to examine the connection between women’s economic contributions to the family and their risk for physical and emotional abuse. Analyses show that American women are at a twofold greater risk; however, the relationship between economic variables and the risk of both physical violence and coercive control are more complex. Income serves to reduce the risk of both violence and coercive control for both Canadian and American women, whereas education serves as a clear protective factor for American women, but does not provide the same benefit for Canadian women.
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The Long and the Short of Household Formation
Andrew Paciorek
Real Estate Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Household formation has been running well below trend in the United States. This article studies the determinants of household formation and how they evolve over the long and short runs. There are three main findings. First, the aging of the population has pushed up the headship rate and household formation. Second, after stripping out demographic effects, offsetting changes in behavior among younger and older adults have left the behavioral component of the headship rate with no pronounced trend. Finally, the short-run dynamics of headship reflect the business cycle, implying that household formation could increase substantially as the labor market recovers.
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Nicolas Guéguen
Psychological Reports, December 2014, Pages 884-887
Abstract:
Previous research found that exposition to the concept of love appeared effective to increase men's helping behavior toward women. However, only direct solicitation was examined. In this study, 40 men were first induced with the idea of love with the help of a dummy survey about love and romantic behavior, and one minute later they were asked to help an association against domestic violence toward women. In the control condition, 40 men were induced using a neutral dummy survey on odd jobs. More men (35.7%) donated to the association in the love-inducing condition than in the control condition (17.5%). No statistical difference was found in the amount of money left in the two conditions: 1.40€ in the love-inducing condition and 1.12€ in the control condition. The results suggest that the love-inducing method does not only activate motivation for romantic relationships with women but also influences men's concerns about a women's cause.
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Grace Larson & David Sbarra
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Romantic breakups are a significant source of stress and associated with a range of poor outcomes. This report investigated whether participating in a measurement-intensive study of coping alters the course of breakup-related recovery. Recently separated young adults (N = 210) were assigned to complete either four visits involving multimethod assessments over 9 weeks (measurement-intensive condition, n = 120) or only intake and exit assessments during the same period (pre–post condition, n = 90). Participants in the measurement-intensive condition reported larger decreases in self-concept disturbance over time; no other main effects were observed based on condition. Improvement in self-concept clarity (for people in the measurement-intensive condition) explained decreases in breakup-related emotional intrusion, loneliness, and the use of first-person plural words when describing the separation. This study highlights the importance of self-concept reorganization following a breakup and suggests that research assessing coping can effect change without creating explicit expectations of doing so.