Introduction to Family Studies

Dating & Mate Selection

How has mate selection changed over time?

The rise and fall of dating culture

How do we meet our mates today?

Dating and Mate Selection

CHARACTERISTICS THAT HAVE INCREASED IN VALUE SINCE 1939 (1996 RANKING IN PARENTHESES)

FOR MEN FOR WOMEN

Love (1) Love (1) Education (5) Education (5)

Sociability (7) Sociability (8) Good looks (8) Good looks (13) Similar educational background (12) Good financial prospects (13)

CHARACTERISTICS THAT HAVE DECREASED IN VALUE (1996 RANKING IN PARENTHESES)

FOR MEN FOR WOMEN

Desire for home and children (9) Ambition, industriousness (7) Refinement, neatness (11) Good health (9) Good cook, homemaker (14) Refinement, neatness (7) Chastity (16)Chastity (17)

Buss & Shakleford, 2001

Changes in the Importance College Students Attach to Characteristics of Marriage Partners, 1939-1996.Note changes in characteristics that were more highly valued in 1939 compared to 1996

What characteristics are most important

The top half of the table shows characteristics that have become MORE important over time:

For BOTH Men and women LOVE is the #1 characteristic for a marriage partner and education is #5

But look at the importance of good looks for men (#8) vs. women # 13!

The bottom half of the chart shows those characteristics that have decreased in importance:

Chastity, neatness, good cook and homemaker

Where do we meet our mates?

High schoolCollege?Clubs?Bars?Work?On-line?Through friendsThough our families

Where do we meet our mates?

Marriage MarketSociologists often study marriage in terms of the

marriage marketThinking is similar to the employment market

There are 3 components to this “marriage market”Supply – who is availablePreferences – preferred characteristicsResources – individual characteristics that are

attractive to others

Marriage Market

The concept of the marriage market: unmarried individuals search for spouses with an

acceptable set of desired characteristics What are some of these desired characteristics?1. Propinquity (Proximity)2. Religion3. Education4. Class5. Race6. Personal Traits

Marriage MarketProximity – where ones lives.Proximity is important as you actually have to come

into contact with someone to meet them and start dating – A study in 1958 showed that people most like to marry lived within 2-3 miles of each other.

The importance of proximity is weakening, especially with advances in communication like the internet, but still has some effect (according to more recent studies).

Proximity still makes sense because neighborhoods are usually stratified by class, ethnicity, and race.

Marriage MarketReligion – there is a strong tendency to marry within

the same religious group – though this is also changing.

Research has shown that: Inter-marriages are less stable and more likely to

end in divorceInter-marriage varies by gender and religion

Jews – males more likely to intermarryCatholics – females more likely

When the less typical combination occurs, the marriage is more likely to end in divorce.

Marriage MarketEducation: women are becoming more educated so the

old pattern of men marrying a wife with less education is no longer the norm.

1/3 of married women now have more education than their husbands

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/fashion/24marriage.html?scp=13&sq=January%2024%202010&st=Search

But similar education is preferred, particularly because more education often means more earning potential, and this is now preferred by both men & women

Educational attainment may also reflect social class.

Marriage MarketEducation:In the past, those who did NOT have a college

degree were more likely to be married by age 30Now college educated are more likely to postpone

marriage today than their less educated counterparts.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1756/share-married-educational-attainment

Marriage MarketClass: most people marry within their social class

(measured by their occupation or their parents’ occupation).

Many people seek to marry up – this is called hypergamy

Hypergamy is defined as: marrying up in social status.

Women more likely to marry up, men down.

Marriage MarketRace: most marry within their racial group In the past -- laws against inter-racial marriage

(miscegenation) Still on the books in some southern states until the

Supreme Court overturned them in 1967Sociologists expect that inter-racial marriage will

become more common 

Marriage Market Personal Traits - People tend to marry people like

themselves In what ways?

1) IQ - may be the result of a similar background2) Physical similarities – which may also be from marrying within ethnic group3) Physical attractiveness – similar measure of physical attractiveness.Research has shown that a marriage may be less stable when the partners are unequal in attractiveness

 

Dating has declined since the 1980s

The marriage market is a way to look at how we choose a mate

We tend to marry people like us in education, race/ethnicity, and religion

Choosing a mate is complicated

Summary