Share of never married females, China & Europe, ca. 1800

-> By age 20-24 most Chinese females were already married, while the vast majority of European females were still single.

-> By age 30-34, virtually no Chinese females remained single, whereas 30 percent of their Western counterparts were still spinsters.

See also:
Share of never married males, China & Europe, ca. 1800

Source:
One Quarter of Humanity
J. Z. Lee & W. Feng (1999)

Marrying Out

Marrying Out  [A report on interethnic / interracial marriage in the U.S. (2010)]

Jeffrey S. Passel, Wendy Wang, and Paul Taylor

Pew Research Center

Key findings:

-> A record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another. This includes marriages between a Hispanic and non-Hispanic (Hispanics are an ethnic group, not a race) as well as marriages between spouses of different races – be they white, black, Asian, American Indian or those who identify as being of multiple races or ―some other race.

-> Among all newlyweds in 2008, 9% of whites, 16% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 31% of Asians married someone whose race or ethnicity was different from their own.

-> Gender patterns in intermarriage vary widely. Some 22% of all black male newlyweds in 2008 married outside their race, compared with just 9% of black female newlyweds. Among Asians, the gender pattern runs the other way. Some 40% of Asian female newlyweds married outside their race in 2008, compared with just 20% of Asian male newlyweds. Among whites and Hispanics, by contrast, there are no gender differences in intermarriage rates.

-> Rates of intermarriages among newlyweds in the U.S. more than doubled between 1980 (6.7%) and 2008 (14.6%). However, different groups experienced different trends. Rates more than doubled among whites and nearly tripled among blacks. But for both Hispanics and Asians, rates were nearly identical in 2008 and 1980.

-> These seemingly contradictory trends were both driven by the heavy, ongoing Hispanic and Asian immigration wave of the past four decades. For whites and blacks, these immigrants (and, increasingly, their U.S.-born children who are now of marrying age) have enlarged the pool of potential spouses for out-marriage. But for Hispanics and Asians, the ongoing immigration wave has also enlarged the pool of potential partners for in-group marriage.

-> There is a strong regional pattern to intermarriage. Among all new marriages in 2008, 22% in the West were interracial or interethnic, compared with 13% in both the South and Northeast and 11% in the Midwest.

-> Most Americans say they approve of racial or ethnic intermarriage – not just in the abstract, but in their own families. More than six-in-ten say it ―would be fine with them if a family member told them they were going to marry someone from any of three major race/ethnic groups other than their own.

-> More than a third of adults (35%) say they have a family member who is married to someone of a different race. Blacks say this at higher rates than do whites; younger adults at higher rates than older adults; and Westerners at higher rates than people living in other regions of the country.

Do testosterone declines during the transition to marriage and fatherhood relate to men's sexual behavior? Evidence from the Philippines

Do testosterone declines during the transition to marriage and fatherhood relate to men's sexual behavior? Evidence from the Philippines
Lee T Gettler et al.; November 2013
Hormones and Behavior


Abstract

Testosterone (T) is thought to help facilitate trade-offs between mating and parenting in humans. Across diverse cultural settings married men and fathers have lower T than other men and couples' sexual activity often declines during the first years of marriage and after having children. It is unknown whether these behavioral and hormonal changes are related. Here we use longitudinal data from a large study in the Philippines (n = 433) to test this model. We show that among unmarried non-fathers at baseline (n = 153; age: 21.5 ± 0.3 years) who became newly married new fathers by follow-up (4.5 years later), those who experienced less pronounced longitudinal declines in T reported more frequent intercourse with their partners at follow-up (p < 0.01) compared to men with larger declines in T. Controlling for duration of marriage, findings were similar for men transitioning from unmarried to married (without children) (p < 0.05). Men who remained unmarried and childless throughout the study period did not show similar T-sexual activity outcomes. Among newly married new fathers, subjects who had frequent intercourse both before and after the transition to married fatherhood had more modest declines in T compared to peers who had less frequent sex (p < 0.001). Our findings are generally consistent with theoretical expectations and cross-species empirical observations regarding the role of T in male life history trade-offs, particularly in species with bi-parental care, and add to evidence that T and sexual activity have bidirectional relationships in human males.

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Conclusion

In sum, we found that newly married new fathers who experienced greater declines in T also reported less frequent sexual intercourse with their partners at follow-up, 4.5 years later. We also showed that men who engaged in frequent sexual activity both before and after becoming married fathers experienced milder declines in T compared to less sexually active men, which suggests that sexual behavior could also have long-term implications for T production. This finding is consistent with the increasingly recognized observation that relationships between hormones and social behavior are likely reciprocal, rather than uni-directional. To our knowledge, these results are the first longitudinal evidence relating marriage/fatherhood-driven T decreases to men's sexual behavior.

Mate assortment in dating and married couples

Mate assortment in dating and married couples
Matthew C Keller at al.; August 1996
Personality and Individual Differences


Abstract

Dating and married couples show comparable levels of assortment for physical traits. Married couples, however, are more assorted on psychological traits. It is argued that both dating and married couples initially assort on physical similarity, but that couples who are similar on psychological traits are more likely to marry. Physical traits are apparently critical in initial partner selection; psychological traits are more important for long-term relationships. There is little evidence that couples become more similar in psychological traits over time, implying that existing similarities are due to initial assortment.

Marriage and motherhood are associated with lower testosterone concentrations in women

Marriage and motherhood are associated with lower testosterone concentrations in women
Emily S Barrett et al.; 2012


Abstract

Testosterone has been hypothesized to modulate the trade-off between mating and parenting effort in males. Indeed, evidence from humans and other pair-bonded species suggests that fathers and men in committed relationships have lower testosterone levels than single men and men with no children. To date, only one published study has examined testosterone in relation to motherhood, finding that mothers of young children have lower testosterone than non-mothers. Here, we examine this question in 195 reproductive-age Norwegian women. Testosterone was measured in morning serum samples taken during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, and marital and maternal status were assessed by questionnaire. Mothers of young children (age≤3) had 14% lower testosterone than childless women and 19% lower testosterone than women who only had children  over age 3. Among mothers, age of the youngest child strongly predicted testosterone levels. There was a trend towards lower testosterone among married women compared to unmarried women. All analyses controlled for body mass index (BMI), age, type of testosterone assay, and time of serum sample collection. This is the first study to look at testosterone concentrations in relation to marriage and motherhood in Western women, and it suggests that testosterone may differ with marital and maternal status in women, providing further corroboration of previous findings in both sexes.

Reduced Midlife Physical Functioning Among Never Married and Childless Men

Reduced Midlife Physical Functioning Among Never Married and Childless Men: Evidence from the 1946 British Birth Cohort Study

Jack M Guralnik et al., 2011

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030619/

Abstract

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Background and Aims

Marital and parental role characteristics are important factors in both men and women’s health. Most studies to date have either focused on disease specific outcomes or summary measures of self-reported health rather than using functional tests of performance. The goal of this study is to investigate the extent to which marital and parental role characteristics are associated with midlife physical function.

Methods

Design

Prospective birth cohort study.

Setting

England, Scotland, and Wales.

Participants

1353 men and 1411 women followed up since their birth in 1946.

Main outcome measure

Handgrip strength, timed chair rising, and standing balance tests at age 53 years were used to calculate an aggregate physical performance score that ranged from 0 (poorest score) to 2.81.

Results

The mean physical performance score was 1.42 (SD 0.42) for men and 1.30 (SD 0.37) for women. By age 53 years, 11% of men and 8% of women had married but remained childless; 6% of men and 4% of women had never married. Never married ( 1.15; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.24) and childless married men ( 1.36; 95% CI: 1.30, 1.42) had significantly poorer physical performance score than married men with children ( 1.46; 95% CI: 1.43, 1.48). These relationships remained after adjustment for adult social class and employment status, own educational attainment and body mass index at 53 years (beta=−0.18, 95% CI: −0.27, −0.09 for never married and beta=−0.09, 95% CI: −0.16, −0.03 for childless married, compared with married men with children). Of those men who had never married 28% reported they were not working due to long-term health problems compared to 5% in both childless married men and married men with children. There were no marked differences in functional outcomes among women.

Conclusions

In this representative middle-aged population, unmarried and childless men faced greater risk of poor midlife physical function, even after adjustment for confounders. These findings suggest that for men, marriage and parenthood protect against functional decline in midlife. Alternatively, physical performance may be a marker of poorer health in earlier life, which affects the chance of marriage and parenthood.

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