Gendered Age Differences in Immigrant Partnerships

Caroline Uggla
Ben Wilson , Stockholm University

Despite recent evidence that shows declining average partnership age differences in many rich countries, there is an almost total absence of research on the partnership age differences of immigrants. This study uses Swedish register data to examine age differences at the time immigrants become parents for the first time. We compare men and women who were born in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, or the rest of the Middle East, and who arrived in Sweden as children. Sibling models are used to ascertain whether age differences vary – by sex, cohort, and endogamy – even after accounting for factors that are shared at the family level. We find significant deviation between endogamous and exogamous partnerships for more recent cohorts, with cohort trends varying considerably between men and women. Effects are large, often more than a years’ age difference, even when comparing siblings and controlling for endogamy, birth order, birth cohort, and age at arrival.

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 Presented in Session 7. Migration & Urbanization