Marital Selection Research Articles

Attitude towards Marriage and Marital Quality: A Comparison among Israeli Arabs Differentiated by Religion

Key Words: Israeli Arabs, marital quality, mate selection, potent:y. This study examines the effects of several variables which are considered to influence marital satisfaction-mate selection, potency, levels of education, attitudes towards love, and expectations regarding marriage-among Israeli Arabs. divided by religion into three groups: Muslims, Christians (Roman Catholics), and Druze. Findings revealed that marital quality was higher among Druze and Christians than among Muslims. Potency contributed to marital quality in all groups, while levels of education affected marital quality among Muslims and Christians but not Druze. he constructions and perceptions of marital quality vary across cultures (Adelmann, Chadwick, & Baerger, 1996; Shek, Lam, Tsoi, & Lam, 1993; White, 1983). Little research, however, has focused on Arab people (Bin-Manie, 1986; Hanassab, 1994; Soad, 1990), and findings on the experiences of other societies, particularly the extensive research on Western cultures (e.g., Birtchnell, 1993; Birtchnell & Kennard, 1984; Muench & Landrum, 1994; Russell & Wells, 1991, 1992; Schumm, Patt-Bergen, & Hatch, 1986; Williams, 1995), may have little immediate applicability. The Arab minority in Israel is considered to be a society in transition, caught between Eastern and Western cultures due to the process of Westernization in Israel (Al-Haj, 1989). The present study is the first of its kind to consider marital quality among Israeli Arab subjects, and whether there are different experiences among this population's three major religions, Christianity (Roman Catholic), Druze, and Islam. The purpose of this study is to contribute to knowledge regarding the relationship between culture (in this case Arab) and religion, and to determine which is more significant in determining marital selection and satisfaction. Several variables widely considered to influence marital satisfaction are analyzed: These include mate selection processes, attitudes toward love, and expectations regarding marriage. Although previous research has pointed to a relationship between marital satisfaction and the above variables, findings are relatively inconclusive (Spanier & Lewis, 1980). Katz and Briger (1988), for example, examined the relationship among attitudes toward love, expectations about marriage, and marital satisfaction. They found that the more women perceived themselves as being entitled to be loved and treated as equals in marriage, the higher the level of marital satisfaction (Israeli & Tabory, 1986). However, it was also found that marital conflicts increased among husbands of higher educated women, who demanded equality and mutual love, which led to a decline in the husband's satisfaction (Burk & Wier, 1976; Murillo,1971). In addition to expectations and attitudes, each couple has a unique history regarding the selection of the marriage partner, which encompasses factors such as the length and nature of the courtship, the extent to which each desired to marry, and the manner in which the couple's attachment was made (autonomous decision vs. arranged marriage). Again, the research findings of how these variables affect marital satisfaction are inconclusive. Several researchers have contended, for example, that long courtships involve a process of revelation and exposure that lead to more meaningful, stable relationships and better preparation for marriage (Blood, 1969; Katz & Beach, 1997; Murstein, 1980). Others have pointed to a sharp difference in Western society between courtship and marriage, making the transition difficult for both partners, so lengthy courtship has minimal influence on marital satisfaction (Clayton, 1975; Kenkel, 1985; Rosenthal & Grieve, 1990; Tamara-Goldman, 1996). Finally, previous studies show that the degree to which an individual wishes to marry is affected by the attitudes and values he or she has developed about his or her social group (Rosenblatt & Cozby, 1972; Shachar,1991). …

Health and adverse selection into marriage: evidence from a study of the 1958 British Birth Cohort

Despite much research on the relationship between marital status and health, the confounding effects of marital selection are not well understood. Even less is known about ‘adverse selection’, the phenomenon that people with poor health or health related attributes have a higher chance of marriage. Using data from the National Child Development Study, a longitudinal study of the 1958 British birth cohort, this paper examines the effects of factors that can select single people into early or later marriages. The selection factors are from three domains, namely, health status, socio-economic status, and risk-taking behaviour. It is found that, from age 16–23 y, adverse selection is prevalent. People from a lower socio-economic background and smokers are more likely to be married. This has the potential to suppress any association between marriage and health. Meanwhile, men with medical problems are less likely to marry. At ages from 23–33 y, adverse selection reduces and those who have better life chances are more likely to get married. This has the potential of creating a spurious relation between marriage and health. These findings shed light on the understanding of the confounding effects of marital selection according to different life stages.

Health and adverse selection into marriage evidence from a study of the 1958 British Birth Cohort

Despite much research on the relationship between marital status and health, the confounding effects of marital selection are not well understood. Even less is known about ‘adverse selection’, the phenomenon that people with poor health or health related attributes have a higher chance of marriage. Using data from the National Child Development Study, a longitudinal study of the 1958 British birth cohort, this paper examines the effects of factors that can select single people into early or later marriages. The selection factors are from three domains, namely, health status, socio-economic status, and risk-taking behaviour. It is found that, from age 16–23 y, adverse selection is prevalent. People from a lower socio-economic background and smokers are more likely to be married. This has the potential to suppress any association between marriage and health. Meanwhile, men with medical problems are less likely to marry. At ages from 23–33 y, adverse selection reduces and those who have better life chances are more likely to get married. This has the potential of creating a spurious relation between marriage and health. These findings shed light on the understanding of the confounding effects of marital selection according to different life stages.

Can marital selection explain the differences in health between married and divorced people? From a longitudinal study of a British birth cohort.

In view of the rising divorce rates, the impact of divorce on health has an increasing importance in public health. The differentials in health between the married and the divorced may be explained by 'marital selection' and 'marital protection'. Using longitudinal data from a study of the 1958 British birth cohort, factors that select people into divorce were identified from the areas of socio-economic status, health, and attractiveness, which included physical attractiveness, health-related behaviour and temperament. Evidence for both positive and adverse selection is found. The different sets of selection factors for females and males appear to be in line with gender role expectations. The health differentials between married and divorced men were weak and can be explained away by the selection factors. Having controlled for the selection effects, there were still significant associations between divorce and physical and psychological health in women. Though these unexplained differentials cannot be definitely interpreted as the consequences of marital dissolution, this interpretation remains plausible.

Can marital selection explain the differences in health between married and divorced people? From a longitudinal study of a British birth cohort

In view of the rising divorce rates, the impact of divorce on health has an increasing importance in public health. The differentials in health between the married and the divorced may be explained by ‘marital selection’ and ‘marital protection’. Using longitudinal data from a study of the 1958 British birth cohort, factors that select people into divorce were identified from the areas of socio-economic status, health, and attractiveness, which included physical attractiveness, health-related behaviour and temperament. Evidence for both positive and adverse selection is found. The different sets of selection factors for females and males appear to be in line with gender role expectations. The health differentials between married and divorced men were weak and can be explained away by the selection factors. Having controlled for the selection effects, there were still significant associations between divorce and physical and psychological health in women. Though these unexplained differentials cannot be definitely interpreted as the consequences of marital dissolution, this interpretation remains plausible.

The Influence of Spouses' Behavior and Marital Dissolution on Marijuana Use: Causation or Selection

KAZUO YAMAGUCHI Unversity of Chicago DENISE B. KANDEL Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute* Similarity between spouses may result from prior similarity (selection) or interpersonal influence (causation) or both. We investigate spouses' mutual influences on marijuana use in a two-wave longitudinal cohort of 490 married pairs, using data obtained twice from each spouse over a 5 1/2 year interval. To estimate processes during marriage free of sample selection bias, we also include marriages that dissolved during the interval, and we analyze the impact of divorce on the drug use of the spouse who was reinterviewed. We test hypotheses to disentangle causation effects of spouse (or event) from selection effects involved in assortative mating (or divorce), using models with and without controls for latent individual propensities to use marijuana. We find that marital selection effects predominate over causation effects and that divorce affects spouses' continued marijuana use. We discuss the implications of the findings for understanding the persistence of drug use in adulthood, gender differences in the relationship of substance use with marriage and divorce, and the study of interpersonal influences. Key Words: assortative mating, divorce, latent-trait model, log-linear analysis, marijuana, spouse influence. Participation in a deviant behavior, such as illicit drug use in adulthood, is related to the timing and quality of participation in the social roles of family and work. In previous studies, we have documented that marijuana use leads to higher rates of premarital cohabitation and divorce and to delays in marriage and parenthood (Yamaguchi & Kandel, 1985a, 1985b). Marriage itself is associated with a decline in drug use (Yamaguchi & Kandel, 1985a). And although marijuana use greatly increases the rate of becoming divorced, divorce does not significantly affect the cessation or resumption of marijuana use. The identification of these relationships leaves many questions unanswered. In particular, the impact of being in a role or leaving a role, i.e., causation, needs to be differentiated from the impact of the characteristics of individuals who remain in or leave the role, i.e., selection. The term causation refers to the socialization effects of being in a role, as well as the termination of these effects when leaving the role. The issue of selection versus causation is fundamental to an understanding of behavioral similarity between individuals in close relationships. Whether in a friendship or a marriage, the same conceptual issues arise. Thus, issues of causation (socialization) and selection also have been raised in relationship to peer influences in adolescence (Aseltine, 1995; Ennett & Bauman, 1994; Kandel, 1978). Similarity observed between members of a dyad could reflect similarity prior to the formation of the relationship, socializing influences as the result of continuing association, or both. To answer these questions requires longitudinal data on interacting dyads. Such data are rare. In a prior phase of this research, we investigated the influence of selection versus socialization on marijuana use in marriage by analyzing crosssectional marital pairs for whom we had retrospective data on age of first drug use (Yamaguchi & Kandel, 1993). We examined the spouses' joint histories of use before marriage and within the last 12 months before the interview, and we determined the extent to which marijuana use was associated over time for each individual and, contemporaneously as well as over time, between spouses. We concluded that wives influenced their husbands' marijuana use more than husbands influenced their wives' use. However, control for unobserved heterogeneity in latent characteristics that affect drug use suggested that the marital effects might be due to selection effects into the marriage. Having subsequently followed these pairs for almost 6 years, we now have prospective longitudinal data on both spouses over time for pairs that remained married and data on one spouse for pairs that dissolved during the interval. …

Age variations in the suicide rates and self‐reported subjective well‐being of married and never married persons

AbstractPrevious research has established that people who never marry have higher suicide rates and lower self‐reported subjective well‐being than the married. The present study examines how the differences between: (1) never married persons who live alone, (2) never married cohabitees; and (3) currently married people, vary between age groups. The relevance of such age variations for status integration theory and theories of marital selection is discussed. Summing up results from previous studies of suicide rates, the relative position of the never married is found to be most unfavourable for people in their 30s and 40s; the differences are smaller among the young and the old. Data on self‐reported well‐being are taken from a large‐scale survey of the population of one of Norway's 19 counties (n = 51 000), and are analysed by means of ordinary multiple regression. With regard to single people who were married or who never married, the results are largely consistent with the suicide findings; the advantage of marriage increases until about 40 years of age, then declines. The survey data also provide information about unmarried cohabitation, which seems to be more or less equivalent to marriage in most age groups. Neither status integration theory nor any other single theory of marriage effects or marital selection seems to be able to account for these findings in a satisfactory way.

Trial Cohabitation on Trial

Abstract The paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of married couples who had cohabited for some time before marriage either together or with another partner, and examines the effects premarital cohabitation has on a subsequent marriage. The paper reports on the quality of marital selection, quality of life and marital stability of these couples, compares their marriage to that of married couples without premarital cohabitation and draws a number of relevant conclusions.

Marital status, fatness and obesity

Marital status is related to morbidity and mortality, with married people healthier and at lower risk of death than those who are unmarried (especially among men). However, the relationship between marital status and obesity is not well established. Role theory suggests through a marital causation model that people in the marital role are more likely to be obese, and through a marital selection model that people in the marital role are less likely to be obese because of stigmatization. The marital causation model was examined using data from the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences, a cross-sectional national telephone survey of 3025 adults age 20–64 in the United States. Sequential regression analyses revealed that married men were significantly fatter and more likely to be obese than never married or previously married men, even when demographic, social, and physical variables were controlled. By contrast, marital status was not significantly associated with fatness or obesity among women when other variables were controlled. The marital role appears to influences fatness and obesity among men, but not women.

Bound by language: Homogamous marriages among a sample of White South Africans

Despite popular belief that there has been a change from ascriptive patterns of marital partner selection to selection based on free choice, evidence suggests that marriages still take place between partners who share similar social backgrounds. Similarity between marital partners is called homogamy and studies of homogamy show whether clear patterns of selection exist or not. This article concerns itself with marital partner selection among White South African citizens only. Language is identified as the most important attribute in the selection of marital partners and is discussed in the context of South African society.

Perceived causes and compatibility of interethnic marriage: An attributional analysis

Naive observers' judgements of the causes and stability of interethnic vs. intraethnic marriage were analyzed in attributional terms of Kelley's augmentation principle and the effect of saliency. It was hypothesised that observers would give greater weight to love as a marital cause in the case of interethnic marriages and thus would view them as more compatible than intraethnic couples. Subjects read a brief description of one of four couples about to be married, representing all permutations of spouses from Western or Middle Eastern Jewish backgrounds. Subjects then rated the degree to which their friends would attribute each partner's marital decision to: money, social prestige, physical attractiveness, or love. The couple's compatibility was also rated. As predicted, subjects rated the highest weighted factor of love to be significantly more important among ethnically heterogeneous rather than homogeneous couples. However, in contrast to expectation, homogeneous couples were rated as more compatible than heterogeneous couples. Finally, marital causes attributed to partners were influenced by spouses' ethnic origin, but not their own. In this regard, marital causes of money and social status were more attributed to those with Western rather than Middle Eastern spouses. These results are discussed in terms of the influence of saliency and augmentation, partner's perceived capacity to fulfill motives, and distinctions between factors involved in marital selection and stability. Concluding remarks address implications for social policy and premarital counselling.

Marital status of persons with spinal cord injury

The proposition that persons are selected into and out of marriage on the basis of their health or disability status has often been advanced, but remains untested. This article (1) presents a theoretical rationale for the proposition; (2) provides an initial test of that proposition by comparing the marital status of a sample of persons with spinal cord injury with the marital status of the general public; and (3) elaborates on the proposition by examining the extent to which other factors account for differences in marital status among members of this disabled group. The selected factors were sex, severity of disability (indicated by need for assistance, perceived health, and extent of paralysis), socio-economic status (indicated by adequacy of income and welfare status), current age, and age at onset of disability. A secondary analysis of existing survey data on 251 Oregon residents with spinal cord injury (182 males, 69 females) yielded the following results. (1) The marital selection proposition was supported in that the marital status of this sample differed markedly from that of the general population. (2) The disability exerted a greater effect on the marital status of females than of males. (3) All the selected variables were significantly associated with marital status for one or for both sexes. Discriminant function analyses, employing these variables, identified correctly the marital status of 67.6% of the males, and 75.4% of the females. (4) Profiles of married, formerly married, and single men and women with spinal cord injury are presented. Suggestions are offered for further testing of the marital selection proposition and for elaborating theory linking disability and health status to marital status.

Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital Selection

Although Weber distinguished sharply between "class" (an individual's market position) and "status" (participation in a collectivity bound together by a shared status culture), only measures of the former have been included in most empirical analyses of the stratification process. In this article a measure of status-culture participation (or cultural capital) is developed from the responses of men and women interviewed in 1960 by Project Talent. Questions tapped a range of high-cultural interests and activities. Analyses of data from a follow-up study 11 years later show significant effects of cultural capital (with appropriate controls) on educational attainment, college attendence, college completion, graduate attendance, and marital selection for both men and women.

Physical Attractiveness and Selection of Marriage Partners

Physical attractiveness is becoming a psychological variable of increasing interest. A number of studies have shown it to be related to general attraction and to desirability as a spouse (Byrne, et al., 1970). If both men and women weight physical attractiveness in marital selection, one might expect a positive correlation between the attractiveness of husbands and of their wives. A positive correlation would also be expected if people aspired to a spouse who was at about their own level of attractiveness (Walster, et al., 1966). The present study was designed to investigate whether such a correlation between the attractiveness of husbands and their wives does exist. A set of 50 negatives of wedding photographs were obtained from a local newspaper, and from these, 36 couples were selected whose pose was approximately full face to the camera. The face of each partner was then printed separately in a 2-in. by 2%-in. vignette, to remove cues from background and dress, thus giving two sets of 36 prints, one comprised of husbands' faces and the other of wives' faces. Twenty male and 20 female first yezr psychology students were then asked to sort each set into 9 categories, with 4 faces in each category, according to how good-looking they judged the faces to be, the order in which the two sets were sorted being counterbalanced among Ss. Categories were assigned scale values from 1 to 9, and the mean scale value for each face was computed separately for male and for female Ss. However, since the correlation between the scale values for [he two groups of Ss was +0.94 for women's faces and +0.88 for men's faces, the scale values for the two groups were combined. A product-moment correlation between the scale values for husbands and their wives gave a value of +0.39 ( p < .05) , supporting the hypothesis. The correlation, though not spectacular, is noteworthy in that the sample of couples was small and not selected for attractiveness, while attractiveness was judged by strangers from photographs. Informal evidence from subsequent studies suggests that people do not expect a large disparity in the attractiveness of spouses, though whether this reflects a preference for simihrity or an evaluation of marital opportunity remains to be elucidared.

The “Dysfunctional” Theory of Romantic Love: A Research Report

Examination of the literature reveals that the “dysfunctional” theory of romantic love (the belief that romanticism is a sign of emotional immaturity) has had some measure of support since the 1920’s. However, questionnaire responses from 1,079 college students in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area revealed a series of low correlations between reported romantic experiences and scores on the Bell Adjustment Inventory. It is theorized that recurring romantic experiences are a function of developmental personality and serve to activate a screening mechanism relative to marital selection. It is further theorized that specific understanding of the marital selection process, and any cross-cultural evaluation thereof, will depend in part on delineation of the screening activism.

Patterns of Homogamy and the Field of Eligibles

Using retrospective reporting as a source of longitudinal data, an analysis is presented of varying degrees of homogamy between a homogeneous sample of engaged girls and three men with whom each had had a serious relationship. Evidence is presented which suggests that (a) there is a general tendency to become more homogamous through mate selection period on some dimensions (e.g., education) but to become less so on other dimensions (e.g., urbanity); (b) some of patterns more easily fit a theory based on variations in opportunities to meet different kinds of partners, others more easily fit a normative theory; (c) social changes during selection period (geographical or social mobility) influence level and pattern of homogamy. T he principle of homogamy in mate selection process is well established in sociological literature. Numerous studies have supported general proposition that dominant pattern in our society, even within framework of freedom of choice, is for marital partners to come from similar social categories. However, in spite of wealth of empirical evidence of this kind, we have not yet gone much beyond rather simple generalization that choices are usually made within broad social categories. We have stopped raising questions about social bases of mate selection seemingly because we assume that important sociological analysis has already been carried out by demonstrating homogamous patterns. In contrast, major thesis of this paper is that studies of homogamy have only begun to examine sociological aspects of mate selection. They have only posed problem, not solved it. There is nothing new in idea that problems remain in this area of inquiry. At least a decade ago Burgess and Locke' suggested that the actual factors determining assortative mating have not been studied, and they proceeded to list six possible explanations of empirical findings. Most of these explanations are of two types. The first type views patterns of mate selection as a function of opportunities. It explains similarities of mates on basis of residential segregation and differences in activity patterns of various social categories which limit range of contacts of any person to encounters with persons like himself. The second explanation is a normative one. It views patterns of similarity as result of preferences on part of chooser for persons like himself and/or enforcement of such homogamous choices through social sanctions. A recent treatment of some of issues by Katz and Hill attempts to combine two under a general norm-interaction theory.2 Although such a combination may have theoretic value, it makes even more apparent fact that same behavior may be result of very different antecedents. Conformity with pattern of homogamy, when At occurs, may be due to either limited opportunities or adherence to a norm. Simple reporting of pattern will not determine which is case.3 * The research was supported by a Faculty Research Grant from Duke University Research Council. I am indebted to Joel Smith and George Maddox for their helpful critique of an earlier version of this paper. 1 Ernest W. Burgess and Harvey J. Locke, The Family (New York: The American Book Company, 1953), p. 370. 2 Alvin M. Katz and Reuben Hill, Residential Propinquity and Marital Selection: A Review of Theory, Method, and Fact, Marriage and Family Living, 20 (1958), pp. 27-35. The first two assumptions of this theory are: 1. That marriage is normative. 2. That, within normative fields of eligibles, probability of marriage varies directly with probability of interaction. (p. 33) 3 These two factors occupy different positions in logic of explication of patterns of homogamy This content downloaded from 207.46.13.86 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 04:25:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Residential Propinquity and Marital Selection: A Review of Theory, Method, and Fact

Residential Propinquity and Marital Selection: A Review of Theory, Method, and Fact

A Theory of Intermarriage and Assimilation

4,Al marriage is universally practiced, the incorporation of out-groups through intermarriage is a common phenomenon. Miscegenation or the interbreeding of ethnic and racial groups is a universal phenomenon.kAThere are no peoples, that do not interbreed. The resulting process of amalgamation represents the fusion of ethnic and racial groups by interbreeding and intermarriage. Amalgamation, or the crossing of racial and ethnic traits through intermarriage promotes assimilation. The child of an intermarriage inherits not only biological traits but cultural ones as well. He acquires in the nurture of family life the attitudes, sentiments, and memories of both parents. Thus, the amalgamation of ethnic and racial groups theoretically furthers the process of assimilation. Intermarriage, in sociological writings, has come to represent the surest index of assimilation.2 It is reasoned that when a group has lost its sufficiently to participate in intermarriage it is assimilated. In this sense it is only the social visibility which inhibits intermarriage. The disappearance, or outgrowing of the group's visibility, results inevitably in assimilation and intermarriage. It was further postulated that intermarriage was proceeding at such a rate that the complete amalgamation of ethnics was only a question of time. The final result would inevitably be an ethnically homogenous society. In this reasoning several fundamental characteristics of marriage have been overlooked. Marriage does not occur at random; neither does intermarriage. It occurs according to discernible patterns. All societies have rules which impose prohibitions and restrictions on marriage. The consequences of these rules are that they also create the conditions for intermarriage. Marital selection whether in or out is conditioned by the differing value systems present in our strata. Marriage tends to be circumscribed by our strata, and therefore in our society these bases of stratification would be determining factors in mate selection. The system of marriage serves also as a means of regulating and controlling the system of stratification. In the regulations regarding mate selection there is variation. The controls express rules of permission, preference, prescription, and proscription. They express approval or disapproval of types of mate selection. These rules may be affected by changes in attitudes towards out-groups, assimilation, cohesion, or when traditional marks of group distinction have disappeared and the nature of contacts between peoples have changed. Rules of endogamy and exogamy have developed which have ringed about marriage in all societies. Deviations from the rules of endogamy or ingroup marriage result in intermarriage; intermarriage between the in-group member and the out-group person. Deviations from exogamy or outgroup marriage result, too, in intermarriage between the out-group person and in-group member. WIntermarriage then, is the marriage of differing in-groups and out-groups than those defined as desirable by the culture.3 The consideration of those characteristics of marriage which also apply in the case of intermarriage gives perspective to the problems of intermarriage and assimilation. It can be seen that intermarriage is influenced not only by but by the conditions affecting marriage and intermarriage. Intermarriage then is not just an aspect of the conventionally conceived processes of amalgamation and assimilation since the rules of mate selection must be taken into consideration.

Age as a Factor in Marriage

X GE is one of several important factors that tend to limit the choice of a marriage partner. There is a general tendency in American society for men to marry for the first time when they are in their twenties and for them to marry a wife a few years younger than they are. Age at first marriage varies over a relatively limited number of years for most men and women, and the difference between the ages of most spouses likewise is subject to a small range of variation. There is the additional tendency for the difference between the ages of the spouses to be greater if either or both are marrying for the second or subsequent time. However important age may be in marital selection, other factors, such as propinquity of residence, quite often outweigh it. Furthermore, age at marriage is associated with the age at which physical maturity is reached, the age at which marriageable persons of the two sexes are concentrated, the age at which education is completed, the age at which self-support begins, the age at which children can be borne, and the like. Some, if not all, of these items vary from one racial, religious, or economic group to another and among persons within any one group. Nor is age at marriage a tendency that is independent of the times. There is evidence that the median age at marriage has declined

Marital Selection and Occupational Strata

An analysis of prevailing marriages of various occupational strata is presented by cross-section survey methods. The data are viewed from the position of the male, of the female, and of the parent, with the findings in each case tending to confirm prior studies in showing a substantial amount of occupational endogamy. Marriage within the person's own or a contiguous stratum is highly typical. More higher-level persons marry down than up; more lower-level persons marry up than down.