Bowling Green State University
News and Notes
August 2015
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More Married Men Wed "Cougar Wives" Today
Couples tend to mate assortatively, choosing spouses with similar demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education, race/ethnicity). Over the past 50 years, the majority of marriages in the U.S. have been between men and women of about the same age. Conversely, the share of marriages between spouses of dissimilar age (spousal age heterogamy) has remained about the same, but the composition of age heterogamous marriages has changed. There has been a steady decline in "husband older than wife" couples moving from nearly one-third of all couples in 1964 to just one-quarter in 2014. In contrast, there has been a 67% increase in the share of American husbands who are married to older women (cougar wives), according to the recently released profile Assortative Mating: Age Heterogamy in U.S., Marriages, 1964-2014 (FP-15-14).

Check out our three-part series on 50 years of assortative mating among U.S. married couples in the latest NCFMR Family Profiles. 

Trends in Spousal Age Heterogamy in the U.S., 1964-2014
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 1964 - 2014

Two Serve on ASA's Section on Sociology of the Family Committee

Manning Begins Term as Section Officer

NCFMR Co-director Wendy D. Manning began her one-year term as Chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on Sociology of the Family during the 2015 annual meeting in Chicago, IL, earlier this month.
Zugarek Begins Term as Grad Student Rep

BGSU Sociology graduate student Gwen Zugarek began her two-year term at the ASA annual meeting as Graduate Student Representative.
Stykes Earns Doctorate Degree  

Bart Stykes, former NCFMR graduate research assistant, was awarded a PhD in sociology during BGSU's summer commencement ceremony. Professor Karen Guzzo served as chair of his dissertation committee.

Stykes' research on family and fathers can be found on the NCFMR website in a collection of data resources products. His article, Nonresident Fathers and Formal Child Support: Evidence from the CPS, NSFG, and SIPP, written in collaboration with Drs. Wendy D. Manning and Susan L. Brown, earned an Editor's Choice Award from Demographic Research. Stykes joins the sociology department at Sam Houston State University this fall as a tenure-track assistant professor.  
 
Dr. Sayaka (Kawamura) Shinohara (l) and co-author Dr. Tetsushi Fujimoto (r)

(Kawamura) Shinohara Honored as Outstanding Author Contributor 
 
BGSU PhD Sayaka (Kawmura) Shinohara (assistant professor at Kyushu Women's University in Fukuoka, Japan, and former NCFMR graduate research assistant), along with two co-authors, received the 2015 Emerald Literati Network for their paper, Work-Family Conflict and Depression for Employed Husbands and Wives in Japan: Moderating Roles of Self and Spousal Role Involvement.

 
New Resources

Family Profiles Series
Original reports summarizing and analyzing nationally representative data with the goal of providing the latest analysis of U.S. families.
  • Assortative Mating: Racial Homogamy in U.S. Marriages, 1964-2014
  • Assortative Mating: Educational Homogamy in U.S. Marriages, 1964-2014
  • Assortative Mating: Age Heterogamy in U.S. Marriages, 1964-2014

 

NCFMR in the News 

A full list of NCFMR in the News items and media links are available at NCFMR in the News.

  • Like Jennifer Aniston, more women are marrying younger men
  • Financial security pushes couples to divorce court
  
Just Released

Books

Data

Multimedia





Calendar of Events
 
 
September

Call for Papers -- Western Michigan University (WMU)
GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy
Date Due: September 1
Link to WMU

Call for Applications -- National Council on Family Relations (NCFR)
Innovation Grants Program
Date Due: September 1
Link to NCFR

2015 Annual Conference -- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
Dates: September 3 - 6
Link to AAMFT

Washington Statistical Society Seminar -- Mathematica Policy Research
Non-probability Samples
Date: September 9
Link to Washington Statistical Society

A Four-Part Webinar Series -- National Conference on Family Relations (NCFR)
Skills for Qualitative Research
Dates: September 10, 17, 24, & 30
Link to NCFR

Call for Papers -- Humboldt Journal of Social Relations Special Issue
Sexuality in the Post-Marriage Equality Era
Date Due: September 11
Link to Humboldt State University

Call for Applications -- Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN)
Early Career Work and Family Fellowship Program
Date Due: September 15
Link to WFRN

Call for Proposals -- 2015 Parent & Family Engagement Conference
The Next Generation of Partnerships
Date Due: September 15
Conference Dates: December 1 - 4
Link to National Head Start Association

Call for Papers -- Pennsylvania Sociological Society (PSS) 65th Annual Conference
Social Change in the 21st Century as a Challenge to Sociology
Date Due: September 15
Conference Dates: October 23 - 24
Link to PSS

Release of 2014 ACS 1-year Estimates
Date: September 17
Link to ACS

The World Meeting of Families -- Philadelphia 2015 Congress
Dates: September 22 - 25
Link to World Meeting of Families

Linking Gerontology and Geriatrics Conference -- Oklahoma State University (OSU)
Wellness: Building Capacity for Tomorrow's Older Adults
Dates: September 24 - 25
Link to OSU

Call for Papers -- Population Association of America (PAA)
Date Due: September 25
Conference Dates: March 31 - April 2, 2016
Link to PAA


October

Call for Manuscripts -- Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
Contemporary Mobile Technology and Child and Adolescent Development
Date Due: October 1
Link to SRCD

Call for Proposals -- Association of Family Conciliation Courts (AFCC) 53rd Annual Conference
Modern Families: New Challenges, New Solutions
Date Due: October 2
Link to AFCC

Meet Jim Obergefell -- Bowling Green State University, Division of Student Affairs
The Man Behind the Landmark Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Case
Date: October 7

8th Annual Mentoring Conference -- The University of New Mexico (UNM)
New Perspectives in Mentoring: A Quest for Leadership Excellence & Innovation
Registration Deadline: October 9
Dates: October 20 - 23
Link to UNM

7th Biennial Conference on Emerging Adulthood -- Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA)
Expanding Emerging Adulthood
Dates: October 14 - 16
Link to SSEA

Call for Papers -- Texas Council on Family Relations (TXCFR) 2016 Conference
Promoting Healthy Families: Partnership with Schools
Date Due: October 15
Conference Dates: April 7 - 8, 2016
Link to TXCFR

Call for Papers -- Family Relations Special Issue
Feminist Framing of Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Conceptual, Empirical, and Practical Innovations
Date Due: October 15
Link to NCFR

Mid-Atlantic Council on Family Relations 2015 Conference
Families as Advocates: Health Care, Disabilities, & Education
Date: October 16
Link to NCFR

23rd Annual Symposium on Family Issues -- Pennsylvania State University (PSU)
Boys and Men in African American Families
Dates: October 26 - 27
Link to PSU

9th Annual BGSU/OSU Graduate Student Conference on Population -- Co-sponsors: Institute of Population Research at OSU & Center for Family and Demographic Research at BGSU
Date: October 30
Link to BGSU


November

Call for Papers -- Mid-America American Studies Association 2016 Conference
Battleground Midwest, Defining Who and What Matters in the U.S. and Beyond
Date Due: November 1
Conference Dates: March 4 - 5, 2016
Link to The University of Kansas (KU)

Call for Papers -- 2016 Work and Family Researchers Network Conference
Careers, Care, and Life-Course "Fit": Implications for Health, Equality, and Policy
Date Due: November 2
Conference Dates: June 23 - 25, 2016
Link to WFRN

2015 Annual Conference -- National Council of Family Relations
Conflict, Violence and War: Family Risks and Resilience
Dates: November 11 - 14
Link to NCFR
Link to Preconference Workshops
Link to Start Building Your Personal Conference Itinerary
NCFMR Web Links
NCFMR Team
Co-directors
Dr. Susan L. Brown
Dr. Wendy D. Manning

Social Science Data Analysts
Dr. Krista K. Payne
Hsueh-Sheng Wu

Technical Writer
Lesley Wadsworth

Graduate Research Assistants
Casey Eickmeyer
Esther Lamidi
Huijing Wu
Gwen Zugarek

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ashley Spangler

BGSU Research Affiliates
 
National Center of Family and Marriage Research