IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v50y2024i23.html

Age-heterogamous partnerships: Prevalence and partner differences by marital status and gender composition

Author

Listed:
  • Tony Silva

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Christine Percheski

    (Northwestern University)

Abstract

Objective: We examine age heterogamy in the United States and its associations with other partnership characteristics following the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. Methods: We use American Community Survey data for 2017–2021 to examine age gaps in over 3.3 million couples, differentiating by couple gender composition (man-man, man-woman, woman-woman) and marital status (cohabiting, married). We estimate the prevalence of age heterogamy and how it correlates with education, income, and race/ethnicity differences between partners. Results: The prevalence of age heterogamy and its associations with other partner differences vary by couple gender composition and marital status. Man-man couples have higher rates of age heterogamy than man-woman and woman-woman couples; over three in ten man-man couples had age gaps of at least eight years between partners, with no difference by marital status. Age heterogamy was less common among married than cohabiting man-woman couples. For most couple types, educational and income differences between partners were more common among age-heterogamous partnerships. The prevalence of interracial/interethnic partnerships was higher among age-heterogamous married man-man and man-woman couples but not for woman-woman couples. Contribution: Man-man couples have higher rates of age heterogamy, and partner differences related to education, income, and race/ethnicity are tied to age heterogamy for man-man couples more strongly than for other couple types. Partnering patterns for man-man couples are distinct from other couple types.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony Silva & Christine Percheski, 2024. "Age-heterogamous partnerships: Prevalence and partner differences by marital status and gender composition," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 50(23), pages 625-642.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:50:y:2024:i:23
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2024.50.23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol50/23/50-23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2024.50.23?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edoardo Ciscato & Alfred Galichon & Marion Goussé, 2020. "Like Attract Like? A Structural Comparison of Homogamy across Same-Sex and Different-Sex Households," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 740-781.
    2. Gunnar Andersson & Turid Noack & Ane Seierstad & Harald Weedon-Fekjær, 2006. "The demographics of same-sex marriages in Norway and Sweden," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 79-98, February.
    3. Paula England & Elizabeth Aura McClintock, 2009. "The Gendered Double Standard of Aging in US Marriage Markets," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(4), pages 797-816, December.
    4. Lisa Jepsen & Christopher Jepsen, 2002. "An empirical analysis of the matching patterns of same-sex and opposite-sex couples," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(3), pages 435-453, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claudia Senik & Anne Solaz, 2025. "The price of youth: Income and Age-Hypergamy," PSE Working Papers halshs-04840609, HAL.
    2. Zhiyong Lin & Wei-hsin Yu & Kuo-Hsien Su, 2019. "Comparing same- and different-sex relationship dynamics: Experiences of young adults in Taiwan," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(17), pages 431-462.
    3. Douglas W. Allen & Shih En Lu, 2017. "Matching, marriage, and children: differences across sexual orientations," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 527-547, June.
    4. Edoardo Ciscato & Alfred Galichon & Marion Goussé, 2020. "Like Attract Like? A Structural Comparison of Homogamy across Same-Sex and Different-Sex Households," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 740-781.
    5. Lina Aldén & Lena Edlund & Mats Hammarstedt & Michael Mueller-Smith, 2015. "Effect of Registered Partnership on Labor Earnings and Fertility for Same-Sex Couples: Evidence From Swedish Register Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1243-1268, August.
    6. Martin Kolk, 2015. "Age Differences in Unions: Continuity and Divergence Among Swedish Couples Between 1932 and 2007," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 365-382, October.
    7. Yazbeck M & Xu H & Azocar F & Ettner SL, 2020. "Spousal Peer Effects in Specialty Behavioral Health Services Use: Do Spillovers Vary by Gender, Subscriber Status and Sexual Orientation?," Discussion Papers Series 630, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    8. Kara Joyner & Wendy Manning & Ryan Bogle, 2017. "Gender and the Stability of Same-Sex and Different-Sex Relationships Among Young Adults," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2351-2374, December.
    9. Madeline Zavodny, 2008. "Is there a ‘marriage premium’ for gay men?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 369-389, December.
    10. Karsten Hank & Martin Wetzel, 2018. "Same-sex relationship experiences and expectations regarding partnership and parenthood," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(25), pages 701-718.
    11. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2018. "Sexual Orientation, Labour Earnings, and Household Income in Canada," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 41-55, March.
    12. Christine Schwartz & Nikki Graf, 2009. "Assortative matching among same-sex and different-sex couples in the United States, 1990-2000," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(28), pages 843-878.
    13. Edoardo Ciscato & Alfred Galichon & Marion Goussé, 2020. "Like Attract Like? A Structural Comparison of Homogamy across Same-Sex and Different-Sex Households," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 740-781.
    14. Yang Hu & Yue Qian, 2019. "Educational and age assortative mating in China: The importance of marriage order," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(3), pages 53-82.
    15. Christopher S. Carpenter, 2020. "The Direct Effects of Legal Same-Sex Marriage in the United States: Evidence From Massachusetts," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1787-1808, October.
    16. Chen, Shuai, 2019. "Marriage, minorities, and mass movements," Other publications TiSEM 9cb1b11d-12e6-46a8-adca-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Michael E. Martell & Peyton Nash, 2020. "For Love and Money? Earnings and Marriage Among Same-Sex Couples," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 260-294, September.
    18. Reczek, Corinne, 2012. "The promotion of unhealthy habits in gay, lesbian, and straight intimate partnerships," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(6), pages 1114-1121.
    19. Jepsen, Christopher & Jepsen, Lisa K., 2009. "Does home ownership vary by sexual orientation?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 307-315, May.
    20. Pierre-André Chiappori & Edoardo Ciscato & Carla Guerriero, 2020. "Analyzing Matching Patterns in Marriage: Theory and Application to Italian Data," Working Papers 2020-080, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:50:y:2024:i:23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.