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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Assessing Differences in Sperm Competitive Ability in Drosophila
Published on: August 22, 2013
Parental age difference, educationally assortative mating and offspring count: evidence from a contemporary
Meng-Wen Tsou1, Jin-Tan Liu, James K Hammitt
1Graduate Institute of Industrial Economics, National Central University, 300 Jhongda Road, Jhongli City, Taoyuan County 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Abstract:
Using contemporary population data from Taiwan, we examine the relationships between parental age difference, educationally assortative mating, income and offspring count. Controlling for women's reproductive value (measured by age at first birth), we find that an older husband is associated with fewer offspring, whereas a husband with similar or higher education is associated with more offspring. Concerning resources, we find that women's income is negatively associated with fertility and husband's income is positively associated with fertility among highly educated women. These results are consistent with the view that women compensate for trade-offs between education, income generation and childbearing by seeking mates with a higher status.
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