Results indicate substantial change in marriage patterns between the early and late baby-boom cohorts. While women's economic prospects have become more important for marriage formation over time, men's economic prospects have generally become less important. In contrast to theories linking women's economic independence to declines in marriage, economic prospects are positively related to marriage of both men and women in the later cohort. These findings imply, with respect to the relationship between economic prospects and marriage, that men and women are increasingly coming to resemble one another.
Results are somewhat less conclusive for blacks than for whites.