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Title: Partner Choice and the Differential Retreat from Marriage

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2006

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Abstract: The contemporary retreat from marriage in the United States has had a differential impact across socioeconomic and racial groups. Here, 1990 marriage rates and propensities for Virginia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are analyzed regarding (a) the likelihood that persons in different groups ever marry and (b) patterns of partner choice with respect to race and educational level. Marriage remains strong in most race-education groups but is substantially lower among Blacks and among those with less than 12 years of education. Patterns of partner choice have shifted to show greater symmetry between the educational levels of brides and grooms. Changes have been modest with regard to the level and pattern of interracial (Black-White) marriage. Marriage is increasingly a union of equals, but a union chosen more by Whites than by Blacks and more by the well educated than by the poorly educated.

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Authors: Schoen, Robert; Cheng, Yen-hsinAlice

Periodical (Full): Journal of Marriage and Family

Issue: 1

Volume: 68

Pages: 1-10

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage

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