Gender and Socioeconomic Status Differences in First and Second Marriage Formation

In this article, we address how first and second marriages are formed by asking whether SES has similar effects on first and second marriage entry. Like many studies of first marriage, we focus on gender, socioeconomic characteristics (education, income, and employment status), and gender differences in the effect of SES. To examine this question, we use the NLSY79 (n = 12,231 never-married and 3,695 divorced persons), discrete-time logistic regression, and heterogeneous choice models to test for statistically significant differences by gender and between first and second marriages. Our models show gender differences in first and second marriage entry, that the effect of SES on marriage entry differs between first and second marriage, and that the interaction between gender and SES has a unique association with marital entry for never- and previously married individuals. Our results have implications for understanding marriage formation, stratification across the life course, and the well-being of divorced persons who remarry.Key Words: economics and stratification, family structure, gender, remarriage, union formation.Divorce and remarriage are distinctive and prominent aspects of American family life. Approximately one quarter of ever-married individuals have married two or more times (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008) and nearly half of all new marriages involve at least one previously divorced partner (Ozawa & Yoon, 2002). Although remarriage formation, both in the United States and abroad, has been addressed by scholars (Fu, 2010; Kalmijn & Graaf, 2003; Koo, 1980; Koo, Suchindran, & Griffith, 1984; Lampard & Peggs, 1999; McNamee & Raley, 2011; Mott & Moore, 1983; Ono, 2006; Ozawa & Yoon, 2002; Sweeney, 1997, 2002a; Wu & Schimmele, 2005), many questions about remarriage formation and patterns remain unanswered. Two understudied aspects of remarriage formation are recent remarriage patterns in the United States and comparisons to first marriage (but see Dean & Gurak, 1978; Gelissen, 2004; Jacobs & Furstenberg, 1986). We explore both of these questions by focusing on how gender, socioeconomic status (SES; education, income, and employment), and the interaction of gender and SES differ in first and second marriages using a nationally representative longitudinal data set from the United States.Our central focus is on how SES may affect first and second marriage formation differently. Studies of first marriage consistently demonstrate the privileged position of socioeconomically advantaged individuals in the first marriage market (e.g., England & Farkas, 1986; Oppenheimer, 1988, 1997, 2003; Sweeney, 2002b). But there is no conclusive evidence for such a marriage advantage in second and later marriages (Bumpass, Sweet, & Martin, 1990; Chiswick & Lehrer, 1990; Gelissen, 2004; Kalmijn & Graaf, 2003; Klein, 1990; Mott & Moore, 1983; Smock, 1990; Sweeney, 1997; Wu, 1994; Wu & Schimmele, 2005). Combined, these findings raise the possibility that SES is associated with first and second marriage entry differently.We must account for a potential gender gap in the likelihood of remarriage, as well. Gender differences in marriage formation are a significant aspect of our study because the relationship between SES and (re)marriage cannot be easily separated from gender. The difficulty in divorcing gender and SES from one another in studies of marriage also leads us to another important question: Are there gender differences in the association between SES and (re)marriage formation? And, does this relationship differ between marriage types?There are considerable implications for differences between first and second marriage formation, given the substantive advantages associated with being married. Marriage tends to improve physical health, psychological wellbeing, and social stability (Amato, 2010; Waite & Gallagher, 2001). These benefits are often lost at divorce and can be partially reacquired through remarriage (Waite, Luo, & Lewin, 2009). …