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Title: The May-December Relationship Since 1850: Age Homogamy in the United States

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2008

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Abstract: The gap between the ages of husbands and wives in the United States fell in each decade from 1900 to 2000. We explore whether this trend was present as well in the second half of the nineteenth century using data from the 1850-1880 IPUMS samples. We find that age homogamy (similarity in the ages of spouses), measured in a variety of ways, actually decreased after 1850 before beginning its twentieth-century increase. The post- 1850 decrease in homogamy did not result from the loss of marriage- age males in the Civil War or from the withdrawal of women from paid labor in industries that employed large numbers of women in early industrialization (e.g., textiles). Rather, the rising age gap resulted from the lack of same-age partners and the desire for younger, more physically vigorous wives in newly settled regions and high-mortality locations such as southern counties with large slave populations.

Url: https://paa2008.princeton.edu/papers/80695

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Authors: Ferrie, Joseph; Rolf, Karen

Conference Name: paa2008 Session 4A: Demographic Changes

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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