ICPSR - 9306 - Detroit Area Study, 1984: The Process of Mate Choice and Nuptiality in Detroit

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Study - 9306

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Detroit Area Study, 1984: The Process of Mate Choice and Nuptiality in Detroit
(Principal Investigator, Whyte, Martin K.)

Summary

This Detroit Area Study was primarily concerned with investigating the process of mate choice over time and the impact of mate choice experiences on marital success. To this end, the survey questioned ever-married women about their dating and mate choice history, marital history, and satisfaction with and problems in existing marriages. Respondents were questioned about the steady boyfriends they had before their first marriage and whether they seriously considered marrying another man before they married their first husband. Women who answered in the affirmative to the latter were queried about the race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic characteristics of the man they had most seriously considered marrying before marrying their first husband, how long they went out together, and how the relationship broke off. Questions on the respondent's first marriage covered such things as how and where the respondent first met her husband, her age when they met, how long they were engaged, whether or not they lived together before marrying, whether she had doubts or sought advice about the decision to marry before the wedding, and whether her parents or her husband's parents approved or disapproved of the marriage. Women were also questioned about their career expectations before their first marriage, the religion and socioeconomic status of their first husband, and the date, place, and size of the wedding celebration as well as living arrangements in the first six months of marriage. Questions on the current or most recent marriage covered topics such as the marital division of labor, child-rearing practices and values, friendships shared with the husband, and satisfaction and and interaction with the husband, including the degree of communication, affection shown, disagreements, and physical abuse. Additional information gathered by the survey includes number children ever born, number of stepchildren and adoptions, and the age, race, ethnicity, education, religion, religiosity, employment status, occupation, and early family background of the respondent.

Citation

Whyte, Martin K. DETROIT AREA STUDY, 1984: THE PROCESS OF MATE CHOICE AND NUPTIALITY IN DETROIT [Computer file]. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Dept. of Sociology [producer], 1984. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1990

Codebook

The codebook for this study is located on the 5th floor of the Main Library with the call number of HN80.D6D48 1984. There is not an electronic version of this codebook.

Data files: Access restricted to authorized users
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Filename (Size in KB)	LRECL Logical RECord Length	Dataset Details
di9306 (36K)	80	Osiris data dictionary for study 9306
da9306 (311K)	678	Data file for study 9306

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