Trends in assortative mating in the United States, 1700-1910. Evidence from FamiLinx data

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Sociology
• Historical Studies

Background:

• Couple formation and assortative mating are key drivers of societal structure and intra-family diversity.
• Understanding historical mating patterns is vital for grasping demographic processes, but data scarcity has been a major limitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate assortative mating trends in the United States for birth cohorts from 1700 to 1910.
• To analyze these trends across migration background and age at marriage using crowdsourced genealogical data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized FamiLinx, an online crowdsourced genealogical database.
• Focused on analyzing assortative mating dimensions including migration background (natives, first/second-generation migrants) and age at marriage.
• Examined trends across birth cohorts from 1700 to 1910.

Main Results:

• Documented significant temporal changes in assortative mating trends, reflecting societal shifts.
• Uncovered substantial heterogeneity in mating patterns across different social groups.
• Demonstrated how interpretations of these trends differ between individual and familial perspectives.

Conclusions:

• Online genealogical data offers valuable, albeit imperfect, insights into historical assortative mating.
• Historical assortative mating patterns are dynamic, socially heterogeneous, and context-dependent.
• Further research should address data quality and representativeness challenges in crowdsourced genealogical datasets.