Structural opportunities or assortative mating? – Decomposing trends and country differences in educational sorting outcomes in marriages

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14230%2F24%3A00139349" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14230/24:00139349 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616696.2023.2290238" target="_blank" >https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616696.2023.2290238</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2023.2290238" target="_blank" >10.1080/14616696.2023.2290238</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Structural opportunities or assortative mating? – Decomposing trends and country differences in educational sorting outcomes in marriages

Original language description

This study examines within- and cross-country trends and differences in marital sorting by education in Europe. Unlike previous research on assortative mating, our study focuses on the outcomes of the partner search process. We investigate how variations in (a) structural opportunities (educational composition of potential partners) and (b) assortative mating (non-random matching by education) have shaped trends and differences in educational sorting outcomes. Using vital statistics data on all marriages contracted from 2000 to 2020 in Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Italy, we decompose trends and differences in educational sorting outcomes into these two components. Within countries, trends in educational homogamy and hypogamy have been stable or increasing while hypergamy has declined. However, the drivers of these trends varied across countries. For example, in Sweden, shifts in assortative mating and structural opportunities led to more marriages between equally educated spouses, while in Italy, the rise in homogamy stems solely from changes in assortative mating. Within each year, homogamy and heterogamy levels varied between countries. Our findings demonstrate that these cross-country differences can be primarily attributed to variations in assortative mating rather than in opportunity structures. This study adds to recent research studying the structural causes of trends in sorting outcomes.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50401 - Sociology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA22-33722S" target="_blank" >GA22-33722S: Development of Social Mobility in Central and Eastern European Countries from 1970s to Present: A Dynamic Equilibrium?</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

European Societies

ISSN

1461-6696

e-ISSN

1469-8307

Volume of the periodical

26

Issue of the periodical within the volume

4

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

33

Pages from-to

1137-1169

UT code for WoS article

001147043400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85182989626