Age At Marriage, Sex-Ratios, and Ethnic Heterogamy

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effects of age at marriage and the sex-ratio on patterns of ethnic homogamy among Israeli women. We hypothesize that later marriages are more likely than early marriages to be heterogamous as the 'marriage market' shifts from school to the work-place. By the same token, when facing severe marriage squeezes women will be forced to out-marry. Employing data from the 1983 census, we model mate selection of women from Afro-Asian and Euro-American origin in various birth-cohorts. The results do not fully support our hypotheses: we find that in and of itself, age at marriage does not enhance ethnic heterogamy. Women of both ethnic groups who marry later are more likely to marry men of Euro-American origin than those who marry early but this seems to reflect educational rather than ethnic assortative mating. We also find that Afro-Asian women born to cohorts which face severe marriage squeezes are more likely to stay single and those who marry are more likely to out-marry.