State-of-the-Art Methods for Measuring the Degree of Assortative Mating

Session Submission Type: Course

Description

The objective of this half day course is to help participants develop a comprehensive understanding of how to measure the degree of marital sorting when the goal is to identify patterns of inequality between social groups. We begin by defining marital sorting as a process that shapes observed marriage patterns, emphasizing its distinction from the structural constraints of the population that determine which pairings are feasible.

We then motivate why analyzing couple formation is a powerful approach to studying inequality. Next, we introduce a broad set of tools from the assortative mating literature, including statistical sorting indicators (e.g. odds-ratio, correlation and regression coefficients, Coleman–Liu–Lu indicator), as well as indirect measures based on counterfactual decompositions (including the iterative proportional fitting algorithm, the NM-method, and the GNM-method).

We use both constructed numerical and empirical examples in order to illustrate how qualitative findings can be highly sensitive to methodological choices. This naturally leads to the intellectually most exciting part of the course: addressing the philosophical-methodological question of which tools are suitable for measuring the degree of sorting. To guide this selection, we present analytical and empirical criteria that can be used to decide whether a tool is fit for purpose.

Participants will gain practical knowledge that prepares them to develop their own research on assortative mating. They will also be invited to submit their work to a special issue edited by the presenters.

Background materials:
- Naszodi, A. (2025). New methods for measuring inequality by analyzing assortative mating. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031982767; with Electronic Supplementary Material at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/s693d86svp/2
- Kujundzic, A. (2025). Educational assortative mating and household income inequality… https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.02713

Sub Unit

• Courses

Presenters

• Anna Naszodi

• Ana Kujundzic, International Demographic Inequality Lab (IDIL)

Session Organizer

• Anna Naszodi