The relative numbers of women and men are changing dramatically in China, but the consequences of these imbalanced sex ratios have received little empirical attention. We merge data from the Chinese Health and Family Life Survey with community-level data from Chinese censuses to examine the relationship between cohort- and community-specific sex…

Although it has been suggested that engaging in criminal behavior diminishes young adults' marriageability, few studies have examined the effect of criminal offending on marital timing. This analysis uses longitudinal data from 1,641 respondents to the National Youth Survey to examine this relationship. Discrete-time event-history models show…

Used vital statistics data and census data to examine impact of women's marriage opportunities on family formation and dissolution. Linked measures of quantity/quality of potential spouses specific for woman's age, race, education, and area of residence to marriage, divorce, and nonmarital fertility rates. Greater marriage opportunities appear to…

Tests hypothesis that, relative to people who marry later in life, persons who marry young will be especially susceptible to divorce when confronted with abundant alternatives to their current spouse. Using a national longitudinal survey and census data, found no support for this hypothesis. Other findings are discussed. (RJM)

Used data from over 2,000 respondents to explore racial, ethnic, and gender differences in desire to marry. African Americans were significantly less desiring of marriage than whites; racial difference among men was significantly larger than difference among women. Compared to nonhispanic whites of same gender, Hispanic men were more likely,…

Tested hypotheses concerning sex ratios, women's roles, and economic power with data from 111 countries. Found undersupply of women positively associated with proportion of women who marry and fertility rate; inversely associated with women's average age at marriage, literacy rate, and divorce rate. Suggests women's economic power may counteract…

Examines simultaneously the influence of mate availability and other factors on the transition to first marriage and the transition to a first premarital birth. Found that the supply of available mates in the local marriage market has somewhat paradoxical effects on the probability of becoming an unmarried mother. (63 references) (RJM)