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The marital satisfaction of differently aged couples

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  • Wang-Sheng Lee

    (Deakin University and IZA)

  • Terra McKinnish

    (University of Colorado and IZA)

Abstract

We investigate how the marital age gap affects the evolution of marital satisfaction over the duration of marriage using household panel data from Australia. We find that men tend to be more satisfied with younger wives and less satisfied with older wives. Interestingly, women likewise tend to be more satisfied with younger husbands and less satisfied with older husbands. Marital satisfaction declines with marital duration for both men and women in differently aged couples relative to those in similarly aged couples. These relative declines erase the initial higher levels of marital satisfaction experienced by men married to younger wives and women married to younger husbands within 6 to 10 years of marriage. A possible mechanism is that differently aged couples are less resilient to negative shocks compared to similarly aged couples, which we find some supportive evidence for.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang-Sheng Lee & Terra McKinnish, 2018. "The marital satisfaction of differently aged couples," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 337-362, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:31:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-017-0658-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-017-0658-8
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Assortative matching; Marital age gap; Marital duration; Marital satisfaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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