Long Term Trends in Marital Age Homogamy Patterns: Spain, 1922-2006

Abstract

This paper uses marriage registration statistics to carry out a long-term descriptive analysis of age homogamy patterns in Spain, from 1922 to 2006. We first examine the relationships between marital age homogamy patterns, trends in second order marriages and age at marriage of men and women. Second, we apply a standardization method to decompose the changes of age homogamy among first marriages into the effects produced by changes in age-sex composition and those produced by the underlying age preferences of spouses. Results show that age homogamy increased during the twentieth century, particularly in the last 30 years, while traditional marriages, in which the husband is older than the wife, are becoming less common. Although the analysis proves that under dramatic historical circumstances, changes in the age-sex composition of eligible partners modified age-assortative mating patterns, major responsibility for such patterns is to be found in behavioural factors.

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Albert EstEvE*, Clara Cortina**, Anna Cabré***
Long Term Trends in Marital Age
Homogamy Patterns: Spain, 1922-2006
Age-assortative mating patterns are the result of spousal prefer-
ences, but also depend on the relative numbers of marriageable
men and women in the population. By reconstructing long data
series of marriages and of the single population by sex and age,
Albert EstEvE, Clara Cortina and Anna Cabré have examined this
question for the case of Spain using data on marriages starting
from 1922. The proportion of homogamous couples (both spouses
have the same age) increased in the 1970s, at a time when marriage
rates were falling. In recent years, age asymmetry has decreased
and couples where the wife is older than the husband are less rare.
Given the limits of using indicators by age for periods when age at
marriage is changing, the authors use relative ages to reveal the
increase in age homogamy and in age symmetry of the marriage
market. Confirming the results obtained in other countries, notably
those presented for England-Wales by Máire Ní Bhrolcháin in
Population (Population, An English Selection, 13-2), the authors
show that these patterns are not due to changes in the age-
sex distribution of the population, but to a shift in spousal age
preferences. The most recent results suggest a downward trend in
age homogamy which remains to be confirmed.
Compared with other dimensions of assortative mating (i.e. ethnicity,
religion or socioeconomic status), age homogamy in western societies is so
taken for granted that it is seldom studied. By age homogamy we refer to the
degree of similarity/difference in age between spouses. In the developed world,
married women are on average two to three years younger than their spouses,
* “Ramon y Cajal” researcher of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science at the Centre
d’Estudis Demogràfics.
** Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
*** Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics.
A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Population
Association of America in New York.
Correspondence: Albert EstEvE Palós, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics, Universitat Autònoma de
Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 España, tel.: +34 93 581 30 60, e-mail: aesteve@ced.uab.es
Population-E, 64 (1), 2009, 173-202

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
174
because women marry at younger ages than men. As previous research has
shown, age differences between spouses vary by marriage order and age at
marriage (Ní Brolcháin, 1992). Age differences between spouses are higher for
second and later order marriages than for first order ones and, regardless of
marriage order, absolute differences increase with age at marriage. In most
developed countries, age at marriage went through two phases over the twentieth
century. In the first phase, which basically corresponds to the first half of the
century, age at marriage and permanent celibacy tended to decline as
industrialization and urbanization increased. In the second phase, which began
in the late 1960s, previous trends reversed, with an increase in delayed marriage
and in celibacy (United Nations, 1990). Where age homogamy is concerned,
evidence on time trends for some western countries does show a steady increase
in age homogamy over the twentieth century (Bozon, 1991, 2006; Ní Bhrolcháin,
1992; van Poppel et al., 2001; Atkinsson and Glass, 1985; Vanderschelden,
2006). Recent findings from the Netherlands (van Poppel et al., 2001) and the
United States (Qian, 1998) reveal, however, an increase in age heterogamy in
the last years of the twentieth century that continued into the early twenty-first
century.
Explanations for gender differences in age at marriage can be classified
into two separate sets, placing emphasis either on the rational choice of
individuals or on the demographic constraints of the marriage market, i.e. the
age distributions of eligible men and women.
At the individual level, rational choice models of marriage timing have
stressed the importance of the traits and qualities that an individual must
possess to be a good candidate in the marriage market. Traits and qualities
are basically determined by the way the gender division of labour in households
is established. In the male breadwinner union model, women marry earlier
than men because their biology, experiences and other investments in human
capital are more specialized to the production of children and other commodities,
requiring marriage or its equivalent (Becker, 1974, p. 77). In the dual-earner
union model, time allocation to both market and household sectors is assumed
to be gender symmetrical. Specialization does not occur, so investments in
human capital are the same for both men and women. As a result, women tend
to marry later (Oppenheimer, 1988). Women’s increasing educational attainment
and massive entrance into the labour force are the main driving forces towards
greater gender symmetry in marriage timing. Irrespective of the model of
union considered, men and women weigh and exchange each other’s traits and
characteristics to maximize their expected well-being through marriage and
advance, delay or forego marriage depending on the prospects of finding a
partner who meets expectations.
While economists place emphasis on the shadow prices that guide participants
to maximize their expected well-being, demographers’ main interests centre
on the age-sex distribution of the marriage pool: the number of eligible men

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
175
and women. The concept of “marriage squeeze” refers to absolute or relative
imbalances in the total numbers of men and women at the prime ages for
marriage (Akers, 1967; Schoen, 1981). Sex differences in mortality or in
migration patterns can easily create disruptions in local marriage markets by
decreasing or increasing the population of men or women of certain ages.
Along with mortality and migration, major fluctuations in births can also affect
the age-sex composition of the marriage market two decades later, as larger or
smaller cohorts reach marriageable age, due to the near universal tendency of
women to marry earlier than men (Akers, 1967; Cabré, 1993, 1994). Accumulated
evidence shows that various mechanisms have been used through history to
cope with marriage market squeezes. It is generally observed that the level of
marriages is rarely affected by a marriage squeeze, even in severe situations
(Henry, 1969; Bartiaux, 1994). Rather than being constrained by the age
distribution of eligible candidates, brides and grooms appear to adapt their
behaviour. Flexibility in age preferences accommodates substantial disparities
in the number of available partners (Ni Bhrolchain, 2000).
This paper uses marriage registration statistics to carry out a long-term
descriptive analysis of age homogamy patterns in Spain, from 1922 to 2006.
We first examine the relationships between age-assortative marriage patterns
and trends in second order marriages and age at marriage of men and women.
Second, we apply a standardization method to decompose the changes in age-
assortative mating among first marriages into the effects produced by changes
in age-sex composition and those produced by the underlying age preferences
of spouses. The length of the period enables us to examine these relationships
in a long-term perspective and under various scenarios with regard to the
importance and nature of second order marriages, trends in age at marriage,
and fluctuations in the number of eligible men and women in the marriage
market due to the effects of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
I. Data and methods
We use yearly newlywed marriage data from Spanish vital registration
statistics to examine age-assortative mating patterns in heterosexual marriages.
(1)
A cross-tabulation of marriages by spousal age is needed to compute various
indicators of assortative mating: the percentage of homogamous couples; the
asymmetry ratio, i.e. the ratio between hypergamous couples (man older than
woman) and hypogamous couples (woman older than man); and forces of
attraction between ages. The year 1922 is the first for which data are available.
Prior to this year, records indicating age at marriage do not associate the two
spouses, making accurate age spread computations extremely difficult. Data
for the years 1922 to 1975 were obtained from the official publications of the
(1) Same-sex marriages were legalized in Spain in 2005.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
176
Movimento Natural de la Población (MNP), which publishes data collected by
the Spanish civil register. Due to disruptions caused by the Spanish Civil War,
no data were issued from 1934 to 1940.
(2)
For the years 1976 to 2006, we use
microdata files of marriage records covering all marriages commenced in Spain
by age and marital status of the spouses, as well as other information.
From 1922 to 1975, spousal age is classified into age groups that change
over time and have different interval lengths. From 1976 to 2006, spousal age
is reported in single years. For reasons of data availability, and in order to have
standard and comparable cross-tabulations of marriages by spousal age, we
use five-year age groups to classify individuals aged 15-39 and a ten-year age
group for those aged 40-49. Estimating homogamy indicators between spouses
on the basis of five-year age groups can pose a risk of either over- or under-
estimating the real levels. Previous research has faced similar problems (van
Poppel et al., 2001), although our own tests for the period 1976-2006, comparing
results using single age data with those using five-year age groups, show that
there are no significant differences between the two approaches with regard
to the trends and the conclusions suggested by the results. This question,
however, will be further discussed as individual indicators are presented.
Regarding previous marital status, we aim at distinguishing between first
and second or higher order marriages. We define first marriages as those where
both spouses are single at the time of marriage. Second marriages apply to all
couples where at least one spouse is either divorced or widowed at the time of
marriage. Prior to 1934, and from 1976 to the present, marriages are classified
according to the marital status of both spouses. This information was not
reported from 1941 to 1975 so the distribution of marriages by spousal age
and marital status is not known for this period. We used linear interpolation
to estimate the proportion of first marriages for each spousal age combination,
taking the known values of the five years before 1941 and after 1975 as reference
points. The assumption of linearity is based on two previous assumptions.
First, the proportion of second marriages decreased constantly, defining a
linear trend over those periods preceding the divorce law when first marriages
can be identified, i.e. 1922-1934. Second, between 1941 and 1975, mortality in
Spain followed a constant downward trend. With this method we observe a
gradual reduction in the proportion of second and higher order marriages for
each spousal age combination over the period of study.
In the second part of the analysis, we decompose the changes in age-
assortative mating among first marriages into the effects produced by changes
in age-sex composition of the marriage pool and those produced by the
underlying age preferences of spouses. To do so, we use Schoen’s harmonic
mean to obtain a single marriage rate for each spousal age combination, called
(2) Recaño and Muñoz (2001) have estimated the number of marriages by marital status for
the period 1934-1940, but their estimates do not provide a combined account of the age of the
spouses.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
177
force of attraction (Schoen, 1981, 1988). The force of attraction has the advantage
of including the population at risk, i.e. the marriageable population. Most
research on assortative mating has excluded the population at risk and limited
itself to existing marriages. Conclusions regarding union formation patterns
based on existing marriages may often be misleading if the characteristics of
the population at risk are not properly included in the models. The success of
the force of attraction lies in its ability to connect the actual number of marriages
between men and women at a given age to a harmonic mean of the male and
female population at risk at that given age (Qian and Preston, 1993; Qian 1998).
Schoen’s model has been criticized for not considering spillover or competition
effects (Choo and Siow, 2006). These two points remain tangential to the
purposes of this paper, and our use of force of attraction as an indicator of the
underlying age preferences for a given period of time remains pertinent.
The mathematical expression of Schoen’s force of attraction is the
following:
)()( nFnH
FH
ji
ji
ij
ij
m



[1]
where m
ij
identifies marriages between men aged i and women aged j; H
i
is the number of eligible men at age i; F
j
is the number of eligible women at
age j; n is length of the male and female age intervals. As seen in the above
expression, the number of marriages in the numerator is connected to the
number of potential encounters between eligible men and women at ages i and
j respectively. Quoting Qian and Preston (1993, p. 494), the force of attraction
“reflects both the rate of encounters and the proportion of such encounters
that lead to marriage”.
To estimate force of attraction we require, for each year, the distribution
of first marriages (i.e. both spouses single) by age of groom and bride, and
single population counts by sex, age and year of marriage. In previous paragraphs,
we have already presented how the distribution of first marriages was obtained.
We now explain how the figures of single population by sex and age were
estimated for the entire period 1922-2006.
Population counts by sex, age and marital status from all censuses between
1900-2001 and the population registers of 1975 and 1986
(3)
are taken as reference
values for interpolation. We use Karup-King multipliers (Shryock and Siegel,
1976) to estimate the single age counts lacking in the 1900, 1910 and 1920
census data, and also because the age groups in these censuses are inconsistent
with the intervals used in this analysis.
We examined several approaches to estimate the intercensal proportions
of single populations aged 15-49. Interpolation based on counts of the single
(3) Data from the population register of 1996 were not used because they contain no information
on marital status.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
178
population was ruled out. Taking a cohort perspective did not yield a satisfactory
fit. We used the Coale-McNeil nuptiality model to estimate proportions of the
single population by sex, age and cohort. The fitted values did not offer reliable
results due to the lack of sensitivity to exceptional historical episodes.
(4)
Finally,
we decided to interpolate proportions of the single population by age and sex
and apply them to the estimated intercensal total population counts.
(5)
We
smoothly interpolated proportions of single population across ages. We used
two known proportions of single population at age x for the years t and t+10
to interpolate the values falling between them. The estimated proportions were
later used to obtain counts of the single population by sex and age.
There is no ideal method to validate the soundness of this approach. We
have developed an indirect procedure that compares the number of marriages
resulting from the estimated counts of marriages based on changes in single
population to the number of marriages published in the official statistics. We
arrive at the expected number of marriages by comparing the single population
count at age x in year t to the count at age x+1 in year t+1, adjusting for mortality
and migration. This figure is then compared with the official number provided
by the Spanish civil register. Differences between expected and observed figures
for first marriages at ages 15-49 are relatively small, and correlation coefficients
between both series are relatively high (0.9 for men, and 0.83 for women).
Larger discrepancies are observed at the higher end of the age range, while for
younger ages, where most marriages occur, there is almost no difference.
II. Results
Nuptiality patterns in twentieth-century Spain
To explore age-assortative mating patterns in Spain during the twentieth
century, we first examine trends over time in marriage intensity and marriage
timing. Figure 1 shows the trends in the total marriage rate and the mean age
at marriage by sex (obtained from the marriage rates for people aged 15-49)
between 1922 and 2006. Trends in marriage timing, which appear to be the
same for both men and women, can be divided into four different stages: i) mean
age at marriage decreased from the 1920s until the mid 1930s, when interrupted
(4) Moreover, having insufficient known values made it difficult to apply the Coale-McNeil
nuptiality model. As a result, the selection of parameters was often too arbitrary.
(5) For the total population, we use data estimates by age and sex produced by Amand Blanes in
his doctoral dissertation (2007). Blanes’ population estimates were subject to a double correction
process affecting both the census figures and the intercensal estimates. First, a comprehensive
array of measures was implemented to correct the census figures by: (i) adjusting the figures to a
similar time reference, i.e. 1 January; (ii) correcting open age groups; (iii) correcting the issue of
digit attraction and deficient age reporting; and (iv) correcting for under-registration of the infant
and elderly population. Second, data series for births, deaths and migration were used to estimate
intercensal population counts. For the years prior to 1975, no data on migration are available;
the difference between the estimated count and the observed count at the time of the census was
assumed to be due to migration and distributed retrospectively.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
179
by the economic crisis resulting from the 1929 crash in the USA (Miret 2002),
and again by the consequences of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939); ii) both
the economic crisis and the war were responsible for the dramatic increase in
male and female age at marriage that continued during the postwar years and
occurred parallel to a substantial decline in total marriage rates (TMR); iii) mean
marriage ages then decreased from the 1950s to the 1970s, passing from 30 years
of age to 26 for men and from 27 years to 24 for women; iv) starting in the late
1970s, the figures on age at marriage show a significant and sustained
postponement of marriage, which in 2006 reached a higher mean age than at
any point in the whole previous century.
Trends in marriage timing are not fully correlated to changes in total
marriage rates. Figure 1 clearly shows the sudden changes in TMR resulting
from exceptional events such as the Spanish Civil War. A sharp decrease in
TMR was recorded between 1937 and 1939, followed by a dramatic but brief
recovery in 1940. Levels stayed low during the postwar years and started
recovering through the 1960s to the mid 1970s, when the highest levels were
reached. After that, total marriage rates rapidly decreased as a result of the
economic crisis and stayed low in a context of expanding non-marital cohabitation
in Spain (Domingo, 1997; Castro Martín, 2003; Nazio, 2008).
Figure 2 presents the distribution of marriages by the marital status of
spouses between 1922 and 2006. We find that when total marriage rates were
high, marriages between singles (i.e. first marriages) represented more than
Figure 1. Total marriage rates and mean age at marriage by sex,
Spain 1922-2006
Age at marriage Total marriage rate
Year
1922 1998 2006 1990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
28
22
32
24
26
30
34
0.7
0.4
1.1
0.5
0.6
0.9
1.0
0.8
1.2
Mean age at marriage, men
Mean age at marriage, women
Total marriage rate, women
Total marriage rate, men
Source: Miret (2002) and authors own calculations based on vital statistics and population censuses.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
180
97% of all marriages. Conversely, the proportion of second or higher order
marriages increased in the two periods of low nuptiality, i.e. during the 1920s
and 1930s, and again over the last three decades. Nevertheless, second or
higher order marriages in these two periods corresponded to different
compositions in terms of the spouses’ marriage status. Before the Civil War
and in the postwar years, such marriages only involved widowed men and
women, but from 1982, after the adoption of the Spanish Divorce Law of 1981,
the majority of second or higher order marriages concerned divorcees. They
accounted for more than 90% of second marriages between 1982 and 2006.
The proportion of widow(er) remarriages decreased because both the proportion
of widow(er)s and their propensity to remarry were lower than at the beginning
of the twentieth century.
Age-assortative mating in Spain in the twentieth century
Figure 3 shows the distribution of marriages in Spain by spousal age
differential. Since we group age at marriage into five- and ten-year age categories,
homogamous couples are those in which both spouses belong to the same
category, even if they are not exactly the same age. We classify as heterogamous
Figure 2. Distribution of marriages by marital status of spouses,
Spain 1922-2006
single M + widowed W
divorced M + single W
widowed M + widowed Wwidowed M + single W
divorced M + divorced W
widowed M + divorced W
divorced M + widowed W
single M + divorced Wsingle M + single W
Percentage Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 2006 1990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
90
75
80
85
95
100
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
181
those couples where the spouses belong to different age categories. Undoubtedly,
this procedure is liable to underestimate or overestimate homogamy levels,
since differences between spouses cannot be estimated from single age data;
rather they have to be computed from pre-defined age groups of five and
ten years. If homogamy were defined as both spouses being exactly the same
age, the proportion of homogamous couples would have been lower than that
observed in Figure 3. For heterogamous couples, there are also some risks.
First, couples where the spouses belong to different age groups are classified
as heterogamous even when the age difference between husband and wife is
just one year. At the same time, much larger age differences between spouses
can occur within the same age group, yet the couple is nonetheless classified
as homogamous. To test the reliability of this method, we compared the trend
in homogamy using age groups of 5 and 10 years with that obtained using
one-year age categories for those years where the information is available, i.e.
1976-2001. In keeping with other studies (van Poppel et al., 2001), the difference
between both procedures is minimal. While a restricted definition of homogamy
Figure 3. Distribution of all marriages by age difference between spouses,
Spain 1922-2006
Percentage Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 2006 1990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
70
0
30
50
90
60
20
10
40
80
100
Woman older
(+2 categories)
Woman older
(+1 category)
Man older
(+2 categories)
Man older
(+1 category)
Same age category
Note: The age categories are 5 years for ages 15-39, and 10 years for ages 40-49.
For 2% of all marriages the age difference is unknown or is 3 categories or more.
These marriages are not shown in Figure 3.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
182
implies fewer homogamous couples, trends over time are equally informative
regardless of the definition. This applies to other measures presented in this
article. To maintain comparability, we use the same age group structure for
the entire period.
As a constant throughout the period, Figure 3 shows the weight of
homogamous couples as well as, among heterogamous couples, the considerable
proportion of marriages where the husband is one age category older than the
wife. Such marriages are up to five times more frequent than those where the
wife is one age category older than the husband. Beyond these constant patterns,
three interesting episodes arise from the analysis of the trends shown in
Figure 3. First, there is a decrease in the proportion of homogamous marriages
in the years before and after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The proportion
of marriages in which the husband and wife belonged to the same age category
decreased from 47% in 1931 to 38% ten years later and did not recover to the
1931 level until 1977. Second, during the 1960s, the proportion of men marrying
younger women (age hypergamy) grew in comparison with earlier and later
decades, while the proportion of homogamous marriages fell. These changes
coincided with the arrival in the marriage market of the small cohorts born
during and after the Spanish Civil War.
(6)
Third, from the 1970s until the
present day, the trend has been for an increase in the proportion of homogamous
marriages parallel to a decrease in the proportion of hypergamous marriages
and a slight increase in marriages where the wife is older than the husband
(age hypogamy). Specifically, the proportion of hypogamous marriages in
which the wife is one age category older than the husband rose from 6% in
1980 to 10% in 2006. This trend is a clear sign of increasing age symmetry
among recent marriages. In recent decades, there has been a steady trend
towards fewer hypergamous marriages, along with a progressive increase in
male and female ages at marriage (see Figure 1).
Figure 4 shows two indicators summarizing the information from Figure 3
that will be referred to in following sections. These measures provide relevant
information on crude patterns in age-assortative mating and are not entirely
redundant with Figure 3. At this point, we aim to show how homogamy has
changed over time regardless of the factors that have influenced such changes.
For this reason, net measures of homogamy derived from log-linear models
or, more accurately, from forces of attraction, are of less interest. Initially, our
preference was to use mean age difference between spouses as a summary
indicator of assortative mating. Results showed that from the 1940s, there has
been a trend towards smaller age differences, from 3.5 years in 1940s to 2.1 years
in 2006. This long-term trend in declining average age differences was only
temporally interrupted during the 1960s, a decade in which the differences
increased. Though these results were not significantly different from those
(6) The number of births in Spain decreased drastically between 1936 and 1939, falling from 613,691
births in 1936 to 419,848 in 1939.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
183
presented here, mean age difference may mask certain underlying trends that
are better captured using the proportion of homogamous couples and the
asymmetry ratio together as indicators.
As a summary indicator of age homogamy, we use the proportion of
homogamous couples (where both spouses belong to the same age group). In
a two-dimensional contingency table with two ordered variables, the age of
the husband by the age of the wife, homogamous couples are found in the
diagonal cells. The proportion of homogamous couples is equal to the sum of
all marriages found in the diagonal cells divided by the total number of
marriages in each year. As a summary indicator of gender asymmetry in
heterogamous couples, we use the ratio between hypergamous marriages
(husband one or more age categories older than wife) and hypogamous marriages
(wife one or more age categories older than husband). To obtain this indicator,
we calculate the ratio between the sums of the upper and lower sides of the
diagonal of our two-dimensional contingency table.
The proportion of homogamous couples ranged from a minimum of 36%
in 1944 to a maximum of 49% in year 2000. From 1922 until the late 1960s,
age homogamy hovered around 40%. It increased from 1922 to 1931, then
decreased sharply in 1932. During the second half of the 1930s, although there
are no data for that period, a decrease in homogamous couples probably
occurred, coinciding with a fall in marriage rates (Figure 1). From the 1940s
Figure 4. Proportion of homogamous couples and gender
asymmetry ratio in age heterogamy (hypergamy vs. hypogamy),
Spain 1922-2006 (all types of marriage)
Percentage Log scale
Years
1922 1998 2006 1990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
1
10
0
20
40
50
60
10
Proportion of
age-homogamous couples
Gender asymmetry ratio
in age-heterogamy
(log scale)
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
184
until the late 1950s, age homogamy remained constant. This trend was
interrupted by a downturn in the 1960s, followed by a rise in the 1970s.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, however, the proportion of homogamous couples
remained constant with a slight upward tendency, except in the last
three years.
From 1922 to the late 1970s, the gender asymmetry ratio in age heterogamy
oscillated between 7 and 8 hypergamous couples (man older than woman) to
each hypogamous couple (woman older than man). In other words, men married
younger women eight times more frequently than women married younger
men. From the late 1970s to 2006, the gender asymmetry ratio decreased
steadily, halving from 7 in 1979 to 3.4 in 2006. It thus increased gender
symmetry, by which we mean the lack of effectual difference between men
and women in the treatment of age when selecting a spouse. As seen in Figure 4,
higher gender symmetry does not necessarily signify more homogamous
couples, but rather that the number and distribution of hypogamous marriages
is similar to the number and distribution of hypergamous marriages.
Bearing in mind the trends in both indicators, we next examine their
relationships with marriage order and age at marriage.
There is no need to present in a single graph the trends in age at marriage
(Figure 1), second order marriages (Figure 2), age homogamy and gender
asymmetry (Figure 4) to demonstrate the lack of complete correlation between
them. Neither the rise in second marriages nor the effect of marriage postponement
has had the expected effect of decreasing age homogamy between spouses over
the last two decades. For the central part of our period, however, the decrease
in second marriages and age at marriage is consistent with the increase in age
homogamy. Looking more closely at these relationships, we find some clues
to understand the lack of correlation during the last two decades of the twentieth
century.
Marriage order is a key factor affecting overall age homogamy patterns.
The accumulated evidence shows that the average age difference between
spouses is systematically larger for second marriages than for first marriages.
They are thus less homogamous than first marriages, since they mostly occur
at later ages and with greater age spreads between men and women. The greater
the proportion of second or higher order marriages, the greater the impact on
the cumulative proportion of homogamous marriages.
Figures 5 and 6 show trends in age homogamy and gender asymmetry in
age heterogamy for all marriages, first marriages and, for those years where
information is available, on second marriages. We split second marriages into
three categories: single men marrying divorced or widowed women; single
women marrying divorced or widowed men; and divorced or widowed women
marrying divorced or widowed men. Second marriages present the lowest
proportions of age homogamy but, as is also the case for the gender asymmetry
ratio, their impact on the cumulative mean is weak. Even at the point of

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
185
Figure 5. Proportion of homogamous couples by type of marriage,
Spain, 1922-2006
Percentage Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
40
50
60
Both single Total
M second marriage, W single
Total second marriages
M single, W second marriage
Both second marriage
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006.
Figure 6. Gender asymmetry ratio in heterogamous couples
by type of marriage, Spain 1922-2006
Log scale Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 2006 1990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
1
0.1
10
100
Both single Total
M second marriage, W single
Total second marriages
M single, W second marriage
Both second marriage
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
186
Figure 7. Proportion of age homogamy among first marriages,
by age group and sex, Spain 1922-2006
Percentage
Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
50
70
80
40
60
90
MEN
15-19 30-34 35-39 20-24 25-29
Percentage
Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
50
70
80
40
60
90
WOMEN
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Note: The 40-49 age-group is excluded from this analysis as it cannot be compared with the five-year
age groups. In a homogamy model based on ten-year age-groups, higher levels of homogamy would
be observed. In any case, there are very few first marriages at these ages.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
187
maximum difference between first and second order means, the cumulative
proportion of homogamous marriages never diverges by more than 3 percentage
points from that observed for first order marriages. For both indicators, overall
marriage trends are driven by trends in first marriages which, between 1922
and 2006, always represented more than 85% of marriages celebrated each
year (Figure 2). As second marriages become more widespread, the age
homogamy levels between first and second marriages are tending to converge.
Homogamy is systematically higher for marriages between single men and
divorced or widowed women than for divorced or widowed men marrying
single women, but the highest proportions are found among first marriages.
For the last three decades, the proportion of homogamous first marriages has
grown steadily, except in the last three years over which we note a slight
decrease.
Second marriages show quite different gender asymmetry ratios depending
on the combination of marital statuses of the spouses. Divorced/widowed men
marrying single women consistently show the highest levels of gender asymmetry
over time. The asymmetry ratio of divorced/widowed men marrying single
women is on average three times higher than that of single men marrying
single women (first marriages). On the other hand, single men marrying
divorced/widowed women show the most balanced asymmetry ratio, consistently
hovering around a ratio of one to one. In other words, as many single men
marry younger divorced/widowed women as marry older ones. When both
spouses are divorced or widowed, the ratio is similar to that of first
marriages.
We now examine age homogamy and gender asymmetry by age at first
marriage for both men and women, (Figures 7 and 8). Here we only select first
marriages, in order to work with a dataset free of interference, as these indicators
tend to skew heavily at older ages if we include second and higher order
marriages. We observe significant differences between men and women in
both indicators. Homogamy decreases when men marry later and increases
when women marry later. For instance, an average of 60% of men marrying
before age 20 marry women of the same age group (Figure 7). For women of
this age group, the percentage is just 10% to 20% (depending on the year). By
contrast, for later ages at marriage, at ages 35-39 for example, around 13% to
26% of men and 30% to 42% of women, on average, marry a person of the same
age group. In other words, there is a positive relationship between age at
marriage and average age difference for men, while this relationship is negative
for women (Esteve and Cortina, 2007; Ní Bhrolcháin, 1992) for the first three
age groups, where most marriages occur. Thus, if men increasingly marry later,
age homogamy decreases, whereas if women marry later, it increases, barring
changes in the distribution of age homogamy patterns by age at marriage.
The gender asymmetry ratio in age heterogamy offers insights into the
trends in age-assortative mating over time (Figure 8). As is the case for age

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
188
Figure 8. Gender asymmetry ratio in age heterogamy among
first marriages, by age group and sex, Spain 1922-2006
Log scale
Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
0,1
10
100
1
1000
MEN
30-34 35-39 20-24 25-29
Log scale
Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
0,1
10
100
1
1000
WOMEN
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Note: The asymmetry ratio is defined as the ratio of hypergamous couples (husband in higher age
group than wife) to hypogamous couples (wife in higher age group than husband). Since couples
at each end of the age distribution can only present one type of characteristic, this indicator cannot be
calculated. For example, women who marry below age 20 will marry either a man in the same age
group (homogamy) or in an older age group (heterogamy). Women in this age group cannot form
hypogamous couples.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1922-2006.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
189
homogamy, significant differences between men and women are found. The
asymmetry ratio increases with men’s age at marriage and decreases with
women’s age at marriage. In other words, as men’s age at marriage increases,
the likelihood of choosing a younger spouse increases, while as women’s age
at marriage increases, the opposite is true. The highest asymmetry ratio is
found in women aged 20-24 at the time of marriage. These women predominantly
marry men from higher age groups.
For both men and women, the asymmetry ratio stayed the same between
1922 and the early 1960s, although there was a deviation during the second
half of the 1930s and the early 1940s, with an increase in the asymmetry ratio
for women marrying at ages 25-29, the range in which the vast majority of
women married. This variation explains the decrease in age homogamy and
the increase in the asymmetry ratio observed for total marriages during the
same years (Figure 4). Simultaneously, the age at marriage for both men and
women also rose (Figure 1). It can thus be concluded that the statistics referring
to these years reflect marriages that would have occurred some years earlier,
but, due to exceptional historical circumstances, were postponed. When these
women married, they showed the patterns that would have been observed had
they married at younger ages without postponement.
At the beginning of the 1960s, however, the asymmetry ratio by age at
marriage started increasing for men and decreasing for women. This trend
continued until the late 1970s, when a complete reversal occurred for both
sexes. These trends correlate perfectly with trends in age at marriage (Figure 1).
Major decreases in age at marriage occurred for both sexes between the early
1960s and late 1970s, but they have been increasing ever since. The mechanisms
behind this correlation can perhaps be attributed to the increasing pressure
placed on younger women by a lower male age at marriage. When more men
start to marry at younger ages, they tend to marry women of similar ages who
would otherwise marry older men. As a result, older men are forced to adapt
to the high pressure on women in the age ranges that they traditionally draw
from by marrying even younger women, thus increasing the gender asymmetry
ratio. Conversely, given the high number of men marrying at younger ages,
women tend to marry men of similar ages, thus decreasing the gender asymmetry
ratio and increasing the proportion of age homogamy (as seen in Figures 7
and 8, specially among women aged 20-29).
If age at marriage increases for both men and women, the few women that
marry at early ages will tend to marry men whose ages are higher than in
contexts of early marriage. Among women, differences in the gender asymmetry
ratio at ages 20-24 and 25-29 have thus been increasing significantly since the
late 1970s. The same increase is observed for the other age groups but is less
pronounced. Among men, the asymmetry ratio starts decreasing because there
are fewer women marrying at younger ages. For instance, although in 1980
men aged 25-29 were still able to marry younger women, this was no longer
the case in 2006.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
190
In summary, the overall trend in age homogamy and gender asymmetry
(Figure 4) is the result of a combination of patterns in both of these indicators
by age at marriage (Figures 7 and 8) and the distribution of spouses by age at
marriage, i.e. marriage timing (summarized as the mean age at marriage in
Figure 1). The decrease in the gender symmetry ratio over the last 40 years is
explained by the combination of both changes in marriage timing and changes
in age-assortative mating patterns by age at marriage. For instance, over the
last 20 years, age at marriage has risen for both men and women, while age
homogamy for first marriages has increased. An increase in the mean age at
marriage implies that the homogamy and asymmetry levels observed at higher
ages have more influence on the cumulative values than in earlier years. All
other things being equal, this ought to produce the opposite effect, i.e. lower
age homogamy and higher gender asymmetry. However, changes in age
homogamy and gender asymmetry by age at marriage have been significant.
In other words, men now marry later, but the age difference with respect to
their wives is decreasing (lower gender asymmetry), and women also now
marry later, at ages where we observe the smallest differences in age between
men and women (lowest gender asymmetry).
To control for the spurious effect that changes in age at marriage may have
on the observed distribution of homogamy and gender asymmetry by age at
marriage, we re-examine this relationship based on a classification of men’s
and women’s age at marriage, taking into consideration the relative position
of each age within each year. In particular, we classify age at marriage into
five groups comprising approximately 20% of cases (quintiles). In other words,
the first male quintile, for example, includes marriages of the youngest 20%
of men (irrespective of the wife’s age) and so on. The same applies for women.
Groups do not include exactly 20% of the cases because we do not have
sufficiently detailed age data. This analysis is restricted to the 1976-2006 period
for which single age data are available, and uses a slightly modified definition
of homogamy. We consider homogamous couples as those for whom the absolute
age difference between spouses ranges from 0 to 2 years. Higher differences
correspond to heterogamous couples.
Figures 9 and 10 show age homogamy and gender asymmetry by each
quintile for both men and women. Except for the oldest 20% of men and women,
there is a stable relationship between age homogamy and relative age at marriage.
The younger men marry, the more homogamous they tend to be, and the
younger women marry, the less homogamous they tend to be. For both men
and women, trends in age homogamy over time indicate an increase in the
proportion of homogamous marriages, no matter how young or old they marry.
Similar results, but in the opposite direction, are found for the gender asymmetry
ratio. First, the gender asymmetry ratio decreases by age at marriage among
men, and increases among women. Second, trends over time show a steady
decrease in gender asymmetry at all ages, both for men and women. In summary,

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
191
Figure 9. Proportion of age homogamy among first marriages,
by age (quintiles) and sex, Spain, 1976-2006
Percentage Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
40
50
60
Q1
Q4
Q5
Q2
Q3
MEN
Percentage
Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 20061990 1994 2002 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
40
50
60
Q1
Q4
Q5
Q2
Q3
WOMEN
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Note: The quintiles represent the study population classified by age at first marriage and divided into
5 groups. For example, the first female quintile (Q1) comprises first marriages of the youngest 20% of
women and the last male quintile (Q5) comprises first marriages of the oldest 20% of men.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1976-2006.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
192
Figure 10. Gender asymmetry ratio in age heterogamy among first
marriages, by age (quintiles) and sex, Spain 1976-2006.
Log scale
Ined 2009
Year
1976 2006 2003 1994 1985 2000 1991 1982 1977 1988 1979
0.1
100
10
1
1,000
MEN
Q1
Q4
Q5
Q2
Q3
Log scale Ined 2009
Year
1976 2006 2003 1994 1985 2000 1991 1982 1977 1988 1979
0.1
100
10
1
1,000
WOMEN
Q1
Q4
Q5
Q2
Q3
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Source: Spanish vital statistics, 1976-2006.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
193
after controlling for differences in age at marriage over time and between men
and women, age homogamy and the gender asymmetry ratio indeed depict
similar trends over time.
Using two-sex nuptiality models to estimate age-assortative
mating patterns under three distinct age preference standards
Up to this point, we have closely examined trends in age-assortative mating
patterns of marriages commenced in Spain over the twentieth century, but we
have not discussed the factors associated with such patterns. We have merely
indicated some historical circumstances to locate in time some of the shifts in
overall age homogamy trends and examined the variations in these trends by
marriage order and male and female age at marriage. We now aim to decompose
the observed age homogamy behaviour into 1) the effects produced by the
age-sex composition of the population at risk; and 2) those produced by
underlying preferences, as measured by the force of attraction. For instance,
controlling for marriage market conditions would enable us to assess the extent
to which variations in age homogamy and gender asymmetry in age heterogamy
trends in the 1960s were the result of a broken equilibrium in the age-sex
composition of the population at risk due to the arrival on the marriage market
of the small cohorts born during and after the Spanish Civil War. Along with
mortality and migration, variations over time in the number of live births,
depending on intensity and duration, can also affect the age-sex structure of
the marriage market a couple of decades later, as larger or smaller cohorts enter
the marriage market. Given that men almost universally marry younger women,
decreases in births lead to a scenario where the size of a marriageable male
cohort is larger than subsequent female birth cohorts.
We use Schoen’s harmonic mean model, (also known as “force of attraction”;
Schoen, 1981 and 1988) to estimate the number of marriages that would have
occurred had underlying age preferences remained the same throughout the
period.
We calculate the forces of attraction for each set of male and female ages
at marriage. The complete set of forces of attraction for a given year is assumed
to reflect the underlying age mating preferences for that year. For every year
we construct two summary indicators of these preferences, which are the
degree of homogamy and the level of asymmetry in hypergamous marriages
versus hypogamous marriages. The indicator of homogamy is the sum of the
forces of attraction (a
ij
as defined in equation 1) where i equals j, divided by
the sum of all forces of attraction. This is the weight or strength of diagonal
cells (homogamous couples) over the complete distribution of couples. This
indicator ranges from 0 to 1. The gender asymmetry indicator comes from the
ratio between the sum of forces of attraction where i > j (husband at least one
age category older than wife) and the sum of forces of attraction where i < j
(husband at least one age category younger than wife).

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
194
The indicators are displayed in Figure 11. Both are used to select the years
that will serve as the constant age preference standards to estimate the expected
average age difference. The 1941 standard represents the lowest level of
homogamy and the highest level of asymmetry of the whole period. At the
opposite extreme, 2001 represents the highest level of homogamy combined
with the lowest level of asymmetry. Finally, the standard for 1975 falls roughly
between 1941 and 2001 in terms of age homogamy and age asymmetry, but
maintains the distinctiveness of being the year when marriage rates peaked
to their maximum level for the whole period.
Figures 12 and 13 show homogamy and gender asymmetry in age heterogamy
observed for first marriages in Spain between 1922 and 2001 and the expected
values according to three distinct standards of age preferences. We use first
marriages because they represent the vast majority of marriages and because
forces of attraction for second marriages cannot be accurately ascertained. To
obtain the expected trends in age homogamy and gender asymmetry, we take
into the account the force of attraction for each year and the spousal age
combination. The whole matrix of forces of attraction is taken to be the standard
set of underlying age preferences. Each standard is then applied to the population
at risk for every year in order to estimate the number of expected marriages
for each spousal age combination. Finally, from these marriages, we compute
both indicators following the same procedure as that described for Figure 4.
The observed and the expected trends can be compared to determine the effect
Figure 11. Homogamy and asymmetry indicators of forces of attraction,
Spain, 1922-2001
Percentage Log scale
Year
1922 1998 20021990 19941982 19861974 19781958 197019461934 1954 196619421930 1950 196219381926
30
10
0
20
40
50
60
1
10
Asymmetry of forces of attraction
(log scale)
Homogamous forces of attraction
(proportion)
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Sources: Author’s calculations based on Spanish vital statistics (1922-2001) and population censuses.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
195
Figure 12. Observed trends in age homogamy for first marriages
and expected trends according to three standards of
underlying age preferences, Spain 1922-2001
Percentage Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 2002 1990 1994 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
30
10
0
20
40
50
60
Observed
1941 standard
2001 standard
1975 standard
Trends
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Sources: Author’s calculations based on Spanish vital statistics (1922-2001) and population censuses.
Figure 13. Observed trends in gender asymmetry in heterogamous
first marriages and expected trends according to three standards of
underlying age preferences, Spain 1922-2001
Log scale Ined 2009
Year
1922 1998 2002 1990 1994 1982 1986 1974 1978 1958 1970 1946 1934 1954 1966 1942 1930 1950 1962 1938 1926
1
10
Observed
1941 standard
2001 standard
1975 standard
Trends
Scope: Marriages between persons aged 15-49.
Sources: Author’s calculations based on Spanish vital statistics (1922-2001) and population censuses.

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
196
of changes in the age-sex composition of the population at risk on the mean
spousal age difference.
Specifically, Figures 12 and 13 present the expected trends in age homogamy
and gender asymmetry using the 1941, 1975 and 2001 age preference standards.
Both measures are sensitive to the standard of age preferences taken as reference.
The 1941 standard therefore produced lower age homogamy and higher
asymmetry than that for 1975 and 2001. The differences between standards
are due to a double factor: the strength of age homogamy and the degree of
gender symmetry in age preferences. The 1941 standard presents the strongest
trend of men marrying younger women and weakest trend of marrying at
similar ages in comparison with the 1975 and 2001 standards. As asymmetry
declines and homogamy increases, average age differences decrease.
From the variations in the expected trends, we conclude that changes in
the age-sex composition of the marriage market have had little effect on changes
in age homogamy and gender asymmetry over time. These changes must be
due to other kinds of factors, mostly related to individual behaviour. With
regard to age homogamy, the observed trend shows a spread of 15 percentage
points between the minimum and maximum values, while the spread for the
estimated trends is less than 4 points. The same applies for the gender asymmetry
ratio: 4.5 points of internal variation between the observed values, and less
than 1 point between the expected trends. The spread between the minimum
and maximum values in the expected measures for each of the three standards
proves to be relatively small, and all three standards show the same basic
change over time. Taking into account only the age structure of unmarried
men and women, we would expect age homogamy to have decreased slightly
and gender asymmetry to have increased slightly from 1922 to 2001.
This being said, however, the expected trends are not entirely smooth,
either for age homogamy or for gender asymmetry. There are short fluctuations
for some periods, more or less pronounced depending on the standard of
reference. For instance, the 1975 standard for age homogamy presents two
short-term decreases in age homogamy in the late 1930s and the mid-60s, of
a lower magnitude than those seen in the observed figures but proximate in
time. Observed shifts in age homogamy for these two periods are considerably
higher than the shifts expected by any of the standards. The magnitude and
timing of these fluctuations varies by the standard chosen. This example
suffices to conclude that shifts in the age-sex structure of the population at
risk exert friction on marriage dynamics that varies according to the degree
of homogamy and symmetry implicit in age preferences. According to our
method, this means that the change in age homogamy for those years was due
not only to changes in the age-sex composition of the population at risk, but
mainly to changes in underlying preferences. In addition, changes in age
homogamy or gender asymmetry due to changes in the age-sex composition
of the population at risk occur sooner or later depending on the marriage

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
197
timing embedded in each preference standard. The 1975 standard, for example,
is the first of the three to anticipate the rise in the average age difference
observed in the 1960s. Of course, these last results are basically the consequence
of using different standards of age preferences. They are, however, legitimate
to illustrate that marriage market equilibrium cannot be defined solely on the
basis of the age-sex distribution of the population, but must be based on the
marriageable population as defined by age preferences.
III. Summary and Discussion
Our analysis of age-assortative mating patterns in Spain between 1922 and
2006 confirms that marriages occur mostly between spouses of similar ages,
with the husband more frequently the older of the two. The results show that
age homogamy increased during the twentieth century, particularly in the last
30 years, while traditional marriages, in which the husband is older than the
wife, are becoming less common. The analysis finds modest evidence that
under exceptional historical circumstances, changes in the age-sex composition
of eligible partners modified age-assortative mating patterns. Major responsibility
for such patterns is to be found in behavioural factors. The standardization
method applied to decompose the changes in age-assortative mating into the
effects produced by age-sex composition and those produced by the underlying
age preferences of the spouses indicates that the latter are clearly more decisive.
Irrespective of the preference standard used, changes in the expected age
homogamy patterns are smaller than those observed. This discrepancy implies
that the age-sex composition of eligible candidates is not sufficient, in itself,
to explain trends in age-assortative mating.
The analysis of age-assortative marriage patterns by components has
revealed important differences in terms of spousal marital status and age at
marriage. Age homogamy for second and higher order marriages is lower than
for first marriages, but there is little difference in the cumulative average age
difference for all marriages. The proportion of second marriages has increased
dramatically during the last three decades, but its impact on the total average
age difference has remained fairly low, despite the fact that second or higher
order marriages are on average less homogamous than first marriages.
Age at marriage is also related to age homogamy: the relation is negative
with the age of the groom and positive with the age of the bride, meaning that
average age differences increase when men marry later and decrease when
women marry later. Within the current context of marriage postponement,
we would expect this opposite relation to have had counterbalancing effects,
with age homogamy patterns remaining untouched. Nevertheless, the delay
in the age at marriage has entailed a shifting in age-assortative mating patterns,
and, basically, higher gender symmetry at all ages.
From our observations, we conclude that neither the changes in the age-
sex composition of the marriage market nor the rise in second marriages are

a. EstEvE, C. Cortina, a. Cabré
198
responsible for the increase in age homogamy or the decrease in gender
asymmetry in age heterogamy observed over the last three decades. Ultimately
most changes have been driven by behavioural factors.
Spanish patterns appear to be similar to those of other European countries,
such as France, the Netherlands and the United States where age homogamy
also increased from the beginning of the twentieth century (Bozon 1991, 2006;
Ní Brolcháin, 1992; van Poppel et al., 2001; Atkinsson and Glass, 1985;
Vanderschelden, 2006). As mentioned in the introduction, however, evidence
from the Netherlands and the United States shows that age heterogamy has
risen in recent years. The effect of cohabitation on age-assortative mating
emerges as a factor favouring higher age heterogamy. As cohabitation is also
increasing rapidly in Spain (Nazio, 2008; Castro Martín, 2003), the Dutch and
US pattern could be seen as a particularly informative precedent for future
years. Indeed, a small – though barely noticeable – increase in age homogamy
has already been observed in Spain since 2000. It would be premature in our
part to draw any conclusion on the causes of this tiny change. In addition to
the increase in cohabitation, age at marriage is still on the rise, as is the
frequency of divorce and remarriage (Solsona and Simó, 2007). Will these
trends bring age homogamy levels down? We do not know as yet, although we
do know that age homogamy has not been reduced by the dramatic increase
in age at marriage during the last decades.
More importantly, will gender asymmetry in age heterogamy continue to
decrease? Contrary to age homogamy, trends in gender asymmetry have shown
a steady decline over the last three decades with no signs of reversal. Before
making any prediction for future years, we should consider other aspects.
Perhaps, the most important is the role of international migration. During the
last decade, Spain has experienced rapid and accelerating growth in its population
of foreign nationals. The immigrant population is starting to have a major
impact on demographic dynamics, with the proportion of marriages involving
at least one foreign national rising from 4.7% in 1996 to 15.6% in 2006 (Cortina
et al., 2008). More than 60% of these marriages are between a Spanish man
and a foreign woman (including first and second marriages). Mean age differences
between spouses are systematically higher than any other combination of
spouses and they have grown in the last ten years. Future research should
address the impact of intermarriage on the overall patterns of age homogamy
and decompose this into the changes in the age-sex composition of the marriage
market that are due to immigration and those produced by the underlying age
preferences of spouses who are international migrants.
Acknowledgements: This article was produced thanks to the funding of the Spanish
Ministry of Education and Science (projects SEJ2007-60014/soci and sej2006-002686/
geog). The authors are grateful to Daniel Devolder, Amand Blanes and the anonymous
reviewers for their valuable advice.

Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
199
º»
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Marital agE HoMogaMy PattErns in sPain
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albErt EstEvE, Clara Cortina, anna Cabré • Long Term Trends in mariTaL age
H
omogamy PaTTerns: sPain, 1922-2006
This paper uses marriage registration statistics to carry out a long-term descriptive analysis of age homogamy
patterns in Spain, from 1922 to 2006. We first examine the relationships between marital age homogamy
patterns, trends in second order marriages and age at marriage of men and women. Second, we apply a
standardization method to decompose the changes of age homogamy among first marriages into the effects
produced by changes in age-sex composition and those produced by the underlying age preferences of spouses.
Results show that age homogamy increased during the twentieth century, particularly in the last 30 years,
while traditional marriages, in which the husband is older than the wife, are becoming less common. Although
the analysis proves that under dramatic historical circumstances, changes in the age-sex composition of eligible
partners modified age-assortative mating patterns, major responsibility for such patterns is to be found in
behavioural factors.
albErt EstEvE, Clara Cortina, anna Cabré • L’écarT d’âge enTre éPoux en esPagne :
Tendances de Long Terme, 1922-2006
Cette étude s’appuie sur les statistiques des registres de mariages pour proposer une analyse descriptive à long
terme de l’écart d’âge entre époux en Espagne, de 1922 à 2006. Nous examinons tout d’abord les relations
entre l’écart d’âge des conjoints, les tendances des mariages de second rang et l’âge au mariage des hommes
et des femmes. Ensuite, par une méthode de standardisation, nous décomposons l’évolution de l’écart d’âge
au premier mariage en deux types d’effets : ceux résultant des changements dans la structure par sexe et âge
et ceux découlant des préférences individuelles en matière d’âge du conjoint. Les résultats font apparaître un
accroissement de l’homogamie d’âge au cours du xx
e
siècle, principalement dans les trente dernières années,
et un recul du mariage traditionnel, dans lequel le mari est plus âgé que sa femme. Même si l’analyse démontre
que, dans des circonstances historiques exceptionnelles, les changements dans la composition par sexe et âge
des populations de conjoints potentiels ont modifié les schémas d’écart d’âge entre époux, l’explication principale
se trouve dans les facteurs liés aux préférence et aux comportements.
albErt EstEvE, Clara Cortina, anna Cabré • La diferencia de edades enTre esPosos
en esPaña : Tendencias de Largo PLazo, 1922-2006
Este estudio se utilizan las estadísticas de los registros de matrimonios para proponer un análisis descriptivo
a largo plazo de la diferencia de edades entre los esposos en España, de 1922 a 2006. En primer lugar examinamos
las relaciones entre la diferencia de edades de los consortes, las tendencias de los matrimonios de segundo
rango y la edad al casarse de los hombres y de las mujeres. Luego, por medio de un método de estandarización,
desglosamos la evolución de la diferencia de edades en el primer matrimonio en dos tipos de efectos : los que
resultan de los cambios en la estructura por sexo y edad y los que se desprenden de las preferencias individuales
en materia de edad del consorte. Los resultados hacen aparecer un incremento de la homogamia de edad en
el transcurso del siglo XX, principalmente en los últimos treinta años y un retroceso del matrimonio tradicional,
en el cual el marido es mayor que su mujer. Aún si el análisis demuestra que, en circunstancias históricas
excepcionales, los cambios en la composición por sexo y edad de las poblaciones de consortes potenciales han
modificado los esquemas de diferencia de edades entre esposos, la explicación principal se encuentra en los
factores de comportamiento.