Marriage markets and assortative mating

Marriage markets and assortative mating in first marriages and remarriages in the USA

These findings demonstrate that positive assortative mating or homogamy in remarriages is much weaker than in first marriages—on many different ascribed and achieved characteristics. Divorced persons seemingly “cast a wider net” in the search for mates. The only exception is that men and women, in seeking partners for first marriage or remarriage, apparently do not compromise on their aspirations for a spouse with high income.

Contemporary mate selection patterns provide clear evidence of exchanges in the marriage market. Never-married persons are highly valued. Compared with divorced persons, never-married persons are better able to exchange their never-married status for higher-SES [what's that?] partners drawn from the previously married population. Marriage order and SES represent traits for exchange. Deviations from norms of marital homogamy at least partly reflect local demographic shortages of similar potential partners, which are necessary for an equitable exchange.

Remarriages represent a growing share of all marriages in the United States and often include partners with different personal characteristics and more complicated relationship histories. Remarriage imposes an ambiguous set of role obligations and normative constraints on family life, which makes previously married persons arguably less attractive in the marriage market (de Graaf and Kalmijn 2003). Patterns of marital homogamy between first marriages and remarriages reflect different marital preferences, disparate marriage market conditions, and unequal exchanges with partners who bring different traits to the marital market. Growing shares of previously married persons are fundamentally changing U.S. marriage market conditions.