Jean E. Veevers

The "real" marriage squeeze: mate selection, mortality, and the mating gradient.

Among persons in midlife, about one in five is unmarried. The sex ratio in this group is about 80, which is markedly unbalanced. Although changes in fertility and in mortality are contributing factors, the “real” squeeze is due largely to the ubiquitous norm that husbands should be older than their wives. This mating gradient is the most significant determinant of the competition for mates as it is experienced by older unmarried women compared with older unmarried men. The nature and magnitude of this marriage squeeze are demonstrated using Canadian vital statistics and census data. Age differentials of brides and grooms in all marriages registered in 1981 are used to create “availability indices” that estimate the number of unmarried persons of the opposite sex that are potentially available for every 100 unmarried persons. For men, availability indices are low in the 20s, and they increase with advancing age to about one-to-one in the 50s. For women, access to potential grooms is highest in the 20s and decreases with advancing age until, in the 50s, there are only 50 potential grooms per 100 unmarried women. The implications of unbalanced sex ratios are discussed with reference to changes in marriage and the family. Markedly skewed sex ratios may shift the balance of power between the sexes and produce a demographic reaffirmation of the double standard.

Homeleaving age norms: conflict or consensus?

While research attention has been directed to the normative timing aspects of some family transitions, little work on homeleaving has been undertaken. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with one child and one parent in 218 families in which the adult child has/had returned home (boomerang families) and 202 families in which the adult child has remained independently “launched,” this article examines a number of aspects of norms regarding the appropriate timing of homeleaving. The following issues are examined: the degree of overall consensus regarding homeleaving age norms; variations by generation and by family type; factors viewed as conditioning the normative age at homeleaving; and perceptions regarding social approval/disapproval of young adults living at home. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical issues in the life course perspective regarding age norms.

Religious Involvement and Life Satisfaction in Canada

This paper examines the relationship between religious involvement and self-reported satisfaction with life in general, and with six specific domains of life. The sample consists of persons aged 25-59 (N = 6,621) surveyed in 1985 in the first Canadian General Social Survey. Overall, there appears to be a positive association between religious involvement and satisfaction for both men and women. However, in British Columbia, where levels of religious involvement are lower than the rest of Canada, the relationship is substantially weakened and, in some cases, actually reversed. Despite data limitations, which are discussed, it is concluded that a positive relationship between these two variables cannot be substantiated in all instances. It is suggested that more refined research is needed to assess and to explain the particular conditions under which a positive relationships will prevail.

Intergenerational Exchanges and Perceptions of Support within “Boomerang Kid” Family Environments

Drawing on the social exchange perspective, we examine: 1) the extent to which adult children who have returned to the parental home (“boomerang kids”) exchange several types of instrumental and affective support with their parents, and 2) whether there is symmetry or incongruence in perceptions of support among these family dyads. The data used for this study are drawn from interviews with one child and one parent from 218 families in which the child has recently returned home. Findings indicate that children receive more frequent instrumental and emotional (affective) support than parents receive, and that parents perceive that they receive considerably more emotional support than boomerang children acknowledge donating. Implications for family relationships over the life course and household living arrangements are considered.

Women in the driver's seat: Trends in sex differences in driving and death

The social meanings associated with the control of automobiles, involving among other things power, prestige, and independence, have led to driving being defined traditionally as within the masculine purview. One consequence of changing sex roles has been womens gradual usurpation of this formerly male prerogative. The proportion of women licensed to drive has increased markedly, a difference especially pronounced among the younger age groups. Male drivers log more miles than female drivers, and male accident rates have traditionally been higher than female rates. However, controlling for exposure to risk, the sex difference in accident rates has declined, and female mortality from traffic accidents has increased markedly. The possibility of sex differences in driving style is discussed. If driver-education programs and other attempts at intervention are to be effective, then it is important to become cognizant of women, especially young women, as a new population-at-risk, and to modify efforts so as to reach this new target group.

Age discrepant marriages: cross-national comparisons of canadian-american trends

Abstract Comparisons of age‐discrepant marriages ideally involve data which are collected at the time of marriage and which are available by single years of age for the same population over time. Although such data are not available for Canadian‐American comparisons, approximations of them are derived from the United States census, from marriage statistics (including statistics for California and for British Columbia), and from selected fortuitous studies of age at marriage. Although available data are not conclusive, they suggest that Canada and the United States do not differ markedly in the incidence of age‐discrepant marriages and that both exhibit longitudinal trends which reflect a decreased incidence of marriages with large husband‐wife age differences and an increased preference for coeval marriages, but exhibit markedly little change in the incidence of wife‐older marriages. Cross‐cultural patterns of age‐discrepant marriages are suggested as an unobtrusive indicator for comparative assessments o...

Age‐Heterogamy and Canadian Unions

Abstract This study provides a much‐needed exploration of the determinants of age‐discrepant unions in Canada. What little research has been conducted in this area of sociology of the family is now outdated. Further, the growing number of Canadians living in nonmarital cohabitation warrants their inclusion in any consideration of contemporary, heterosexual unions, and we have done so here. Utilizing multinomial Iogit modeling techniques, we analyze data drawn from the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey. We find that cohabitations and remarriages are more likely to be age‐discrepant than marriages, and that as age at union formation increases, so does the likelihood that the union will be age‐heterogamous. Although we hypothesized a positive relationship between education and the chances of age‐heterogamous unions because the availability of eligible mates may decrease with education, we actually find an inverse association for women: a one‐level increase in education decreases a womans odds of entering an age‐discrepant union by about 4 percent. We speculate that for women, greater education (economic position) may increase age‐homogamy because they may be more economically attractive and thus more able to select a partner of their own age.

Increasing sex mortality differentials among black Americans, 1950-1978.

At the turn of the century the sex mortality ratio (SMR) for US blacks was 1.06; by 1950 the ratio had increased to 1.24 and in 1978 it was up to 1.76. While both whites and blacks exhibit a trend of increase in the SMR the pattern of the increase differs. Although blacks have experienced greater gains in mortality reduction than whites in this century the current racial difference in mortality is such that the life expectancy at birth of blacks is about 6 years less than that of whites. 3 preliminary questions about changing sex mortality differentials are studied: 1) which age groups are particularly responsible for increasing sex differentials; 2) in accounting for changes which specific causes of death have made significant contributions; and 3) does the increased sex differential derive primarily from decreases in female mortality increases in male mortality or from male and female rates moving in the same direction? Results show that from 1950 to 1978 the SMR among US blacks grew by .52 points; the largest increments by young adults aged 25-34 (1.34 points) and young middle aged adults aged 35-44 (.95 points). Causes of death among young adults play an important role at different points in time; heart disease maternal mortality tuberculosis and suicide are some of these causes that affect a widening SMR for this age group. In general the SMR for 25-34 year olds has shown increases in causes of death for which medical health and nutritional interventions have benefited females more than males but the future still holds a narrowing of the SMR gap for this age group if present trends continue. Similar trends are associated with young middle aged adults; both grups display large and consistent amounts of increase in SMRs from 1950 to 1978. For adolescents the overwhelming (44%) increase in the SMR is caused by homicide. Overall the age groups which contribute most to changing sex mortality ratios are young and young middle aged adults; a combination of biological and social factors are responsible. The chief killer among young black adults is homicide with male rates much higher than female rates; it is highly unlikely that men have a biological propensity to die violently. In the case of white males stress manifests itself in suicide; for black males in homicide.