Age Assortative Mating in Second Marriages after Divorce

Kevin Shafer, Arkansas State University
Kyle Standiford, Arkansas State University
Russell Hathcock II, Arkansas State University

Although remarriage after divorce is common in the United States, few studies have focused on the remarriage process. We address this shortcoming by focusing on age assortative mating patterns among remarried men and women using NLSY79. We pay particular attention to the effects of socioeconomic status, fertility intention, fertility history, and age on differences in age marital sorting. Our results indicate that each has important effects on age assortative mating for both men and women, though important gender differences are observed. Specifically, homogamy and hypergamy are most common among men, though the likelihood of each outcome varies across our key variables. Among women, remarriage is less common and age assortative mating outcomes are strongly related to age, while fertility intentions, fertility history, and socioeconomic status have smaller effects on sorting. The results have implications for understanding the remarriage market, gender dynamics in remarriage, and childbearing after divorce are considered.