Women in Age-Discrepant Marriages

Abstract

This research seeks to identify salient sociodemographic correlates of women's likelihood of marrying outside the normative age patterns. The data were drawn from the Public Use Sample of the 1980 Census. Logistic regression analyses show that Black women are significantly more likely than White women to be in age-heterogamous marriages. Marital history appears to be the strongest predictor of age-discrepant marriages - remarried subjects exhibit the highest probability of entering such unions. The analysis also suggests that wives who are heterogamous on other dimensions vis-à-vis their husbands are also more likely to be in age-heterogamous marriages.