The Marriage Squeeze

Abstract

The “marriage squeeze” is a graphic but imprecise term that refers to the effects on marriage behavior of an imbalance between the numbers of males and females. Marriage squeezes are typically a consequence of differential cohort size. Consider a hypothetical population where males aged 23 marry females aged 20. If that population has experienced a steady increase in the number of persons born each year, males aged 23 will be looking for brides among the larger cohort of females born three years later, while females aged 20 will be looking for grooms among the smaller cohort of males born three years earlier. The females thus face a marriage squeeze, because a relative shortage of males reduces their marriage prospects. If our hypothetical population had instead experienced a steady decline in the annual number of births, a similar imbalance would arise, except that the marriage squeeze would operate to the disadvantage of males.