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Age Differences in Unions: Continuity and Divergence Among Swedish Couples Between 1932 and 2007

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  • Martin Kolk

Abstract

Age differences in unions have important implications for a number of demographic and societal outcomes. This study examines patterns of age differences in Swedish marital and childbearing unions during the twentieth century, using administrative register data on all first births (1932–2007) and first marriages (1968–2007). All first births are further analyzed by civil status of the parents, and non-married and married parents are compared. The study discusses the theoretical and methodological importance of distinguishing between age heterogamy (absolute age differences) and age hypergamy (gendered age differences) and examines changes in both measures. Results show that age differences in unions changed only slowly over the twentieth century. Age hypergamy decreased at a slow pace, while age heterogamy showed a u-shaped pattern with increasing heterogamy the last decades. These results are confirmed in quantile analyses. Standardizations are also done to examine the influence of age distribution of first unions. Trends for marital versus childbearing unions are similar overall. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:31:y:2015:i:4:p:365-382
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-015-9339-z
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    2. Maria Brandén & Karen Haandrikman, 2019. "Who Moves to Whom? Gender Differences in the Distance Moved to a Shared Residence," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 435-458, July.
    3. Christian Dudel & Sebastian Klüsener, 2019. "New opportunities for comparative male fertility research: insights from a new data resource based on high-quality birth registers," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-023, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. Helen Eriksson, 2019. "Taking Turns or Halving It All: Care Trajectories of Dual-Caring Couples," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(1), pages 191-219, February.
    5. Dudel, Christian & Klüsener, Sebastian, 2019. "New opportunities for comparative male fertility research: Insights from a new data resource based on high-quality birth registers," SocArXiv 8kqws, Center for Open Science.
    6. Annika Elwert, 2020. "Opposites Attract: Assortative Mating and Immigrant–Native Intermarriage in Contemporary Sweden," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 675-709, September.
    7. Alessandra Trimarchi, 2022. "Gender-Egalitarian Attitudes and Assortative Mating by Age and Education," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 429-456, August.
    8. Christian Dudel & Sebastian Klüsener, 2021. "Male–Female Fertility Differentials Across 17 High-Income Countries: Insights From A New Data Resource," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 417-441, April.

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