Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288958 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie [ISSN:] 1861-891X [Volume:] 72 [Issue:] 3 [Publisher:] Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden [Place:] Wiesbaden [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 403-428
Publisher: 
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden
Abstract: 
Romantic partners’ similarity in gender role attitudes affects important outcomes such as sharing of housework, relationship stability, or fertility. However, there is little knowledge about how similar romantic partners are in these attitudes. Using dyadic panel data from German couples (sourced from pairfam), this study puts the degree of homogamy in gender role attitudes among young couples into perspective by comparing real couples with two types of counterfactuals. To create these counterfactuals, I re-mate couples in two ways: (a) randomly and (b) in such a way that similarity in attitudes between partners is maximized. Real couples differ only slightly from randomly mated couples, which suggests rather weak attitudinal similarity. Using longitudinal information, I further test the mechanisms that determine the degree of homogamy: there is strong evidence for alignment over time and for lower rates of separation among homogamous couples, but no evidence for homogamy as a by-product of assortative mating on other variables. This paper offers methodological and substantial contributions to the literature: it presents a method for intuitive assessment of the degree of homogamy with multiple variables simultaneously. It also shows that in Germany, macro-level diversity in attitudes largely translates into dissimilar attitudes between partners—with important implications for relationship dynamics.
Subjects: 
Gender ideology
Mating
Assortative mating
Homogamy
Partner market
Gender revolution
Geschlechterideologie
Partnerschaft
Assortative Mating
Homogamie
Partnermarkt
Gender Revolution
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Creative Commons License: 
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Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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