What Makes a Desirable Spouse in China? New Evidence from a National Survey Experiment
Friday, February 9, 202412:00 PM - 1:20 PM (Pacific)
Goldman Room E409, Encina Hall
SCCEI Seminar Series (Winter 2024)
Friday, February 9, 2024 | 12:00 pm -1:20 pm Pacific Time
Goldman Room E409, Encina Hall, 616 Jane Stanford Way
What Makes a Desirable Spouse in China? New Evidence from a National Survey Experiment
Drawing on national survey experiment data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey, this research examines never-married people’s spouse preferences. The findings show how multiple characteristics of fictional marriage candidates – age, appearance, parents’ rural/urban status, education, income, and homeownership – shape men’s and women’s evaluation of the candidates’ desirability. They underscore a need to comprehensively assess the relative importance of multiple characteristics of a marriage candidate in shaping individuals’ spouse preferences. In addition, both men and women prefer a better-looking spouse with higher socioeconomic status and more resources. The findings suggest that widely observed hypergamous and homogamous unions do not reflect the preferences of both spouses, thereby cautioning against inferring individual preferences from assortative mating outcomes. Last, the findings show that individuals’ spouse preferences are embedded in and differ between China’s rural and urban marriage markets. This research demonstrates the importance of directly examining spouse preferences in clarifying the mechanisms of marital sorting.
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About the Speaker
Yue Qian is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She received her PhD in Sociology from the Ohio State University. Her research concerns inequality at the intersection of gender, family, and work in East Asia (China in particular) and North America. Currently, this work follows two lines of inquiry: (1) how mate selection and couple dynamics in intimate relationships reflect and shape gender inequality in the broader society; and (2) how social and mental health inequalities manifest and evolve in the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Qian has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles since 2014. Her work has appeared in top journals, such as Nature Human Behaviour, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Gender & Society.
A NOTE ON LOCATION
Please join us in-person in the Goldman Conference Room located within Encina Hall on the 4th floor of the East wing.