L'écart d'âge entre conjoints

Abstract

International audienceWarum sind die Männer durchschnittlich und praktisch in allen bekannten Gesellschaften älter als ihre Ehefrauen ? Und wie – und warum – variiert der durchschnittliche Altersunterschied zwischen Ehepartnern mit der sozioökonomischen Entwicklung (so wie im Laufe der Zeit als auch zwischen den Gesellschaften) und, innerhalb der Ehepartnern, mit dem Alter der Männer und der Frauen bei Eheschluss, sowie mit der sozialen Stellung der Männer. Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage schlagen wir ein Übersicht der internationalen empirischen Literatur zu diesem Thema vor, sowie ein Erklärungsmodell, das aussagt, welche die « richtigen Gründe » wären, mit denen die Individuen bereit wären, Ehepartner zu werden, mit einem Altersunterschied zugunsten des Ehemanns. Ein empirisches Test dieses Erklärungsmodells, das auf in Frankreich geschlossene Ehen zwischen 1978 und 1998 zurückgreift, scheint auszusagen, daß dieses Modell recht aussagekräftig ist, selbst wenn es als solches nicht die Umkehrung des sozialen Gradienten im Altersunterschied zwischen Ehepartnern in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts erklärt, da diese Umkehrung wahrscheinlich auf die Verlängerung der Schulzeit der Männer zurückzuführen ist.Why is that in almost all known societies, men are on average older than their female intimate partner ? And how – and why – is it that the average age gap between spouses or intimate partners varies by degree of socio-economic development (over time as well as among societies) and, among couples, by age at which the two people became a couple, as well as man’s social position ? The international empirical literature on the question is reviewed, and the explanatory model indicating that individuals may well have « good reasons » for forming couples in which the man is older than the woman is examined. An empirical test of this model bearing on couples formed in France between 1978 and 1998 suggests that the model’s explanatory power is good, though in itself it does not explain the reversed social gradient of the age gap that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, a phenomenon probably due to the prolonging of men’s education.¿ Por qué razón en casi todas las sociedades humanas conocidas, en promedio son los hombres quienes tienen mayor edad que sus cónyuges ? ¿ Y cómo – y por qué – la media de edad en las parejas varía según el desarrollo socio-económico (en el transcurso de los años como en las sociedades) y entre parejas con las edades de los hombres y de las mujeres al formar la pareja, así como con la posición social de los hombres ? Para conocerlo nos proponemos realizar una re-lectura de la literatura empírica internacional sobre el tema, y de un modelo explicativo indicándonos cuales serían las « buenas razones » que podrían tener los individuos para formar parejas implicando una diferencia de edad que les aventajen. Un test empírico de ese modelo explicativo efectuado a parejas constituidas en Francia entre 1978 y 1998, sugiere que ese modelo domina en su explicación, incluso si, por su...

Male Fertility Around the World and Over Time: How Different is it from Female Fertility?

“…Simulations illustrate that this shift will be faster if the difference between age at fatherhood and age at childbearing decreases, i.e., if age at fatherhood decreases faster than age at childbearing. The gap between male and female ages at reproduction indeed tends to narrow during the demographic transition, as does the age difference between partners (Mignot ). We may, thus, expect that decline in male fertility will take the fast track.…”

“…As discussed below, these age differences at childbearing and at fatherhood are key to understanding differences between female and male fertility. They are also obviously related to differences in age at marriage between men and women: on average, men are older than their partners in virtually all countries of the world, and age differences between spouses are highest in West African countries (Mignot ).…”

“…Equation shows that the ratio between male and female fertility is expected to decrease considerably over time, with the diminishing of the population growth rate and the improvement of survival rates, even if age differences between partners do not narrow. Decreasing age differences between spouses, a common observation during the demographic transition (Mignot ), should accelerate the shift from a male to a female higher fertility. What is the evidence, and what can be expected in the coming decades?…”

The Gendered Economics of Synchronized Retirement

“…Moreover, relatively few families today strive for large numbers of children. These developments would seem to call into question both the economic and the reproductive part of the traditional explanation (Mignot, 2010).…”

Spousal age differences and synchronised retirement

“…In heterosexual couples, husbands are on average a few years older than their wives, and men-older couples are far more common than women-older couples. This pattern appears in virtually all countries in the world and studies have shown that is has existed for a long time (Buss 1989; Casterline, Williams and McDonald 1986; Díez Minguela 2010; Gustafson and Fransson 2015; Mignot 2010). The second observation can be described as joint or synchronised retirement.…”