Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
ReplicationWang, Yanwen, and Zheng Mu*. 2026. “Understanding Trends in Marital Sorting by Education in China: A Decomposition Approach.” (Forthcoming, Demography)
In recent decades, patterns of educational sorting in marriage have changed dramatically in China, exhibiting a U-shaped trajectory for homogamy, an inverted U-shaped curve for female hypergamy, and consistently low levels of female hypogamy. However, few studies have systematically examined why these changes occurred as they did. Using data from China’s 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010 censuses, this study employs a decomposition approach to disentangle the relative contributions of three driving forces across cohorts and between urban and rural areas: educational expansion, educational gradients in marriage rates, and assortative mating propensities. Results show that the initial decline in homogamy among cohorts born before 1965 was entirely attributable to educational expansion. For later cohorts, continued expansion contributed to rising homogamy and hypogamy and declining hypergamy, offsetting the opposing effects of steeper declines in marriage rates among highly educated women. Assortative mating propensities increasingly favored homogamy while disfavoring heterogamy, especially hypogamy. Across the urban–rural divide, more extensive educational expansion in urban areas widened the rural excess in homogamy, reversed the gap in hypergamy, and narrowed the gap in hypogamy. These findings highlight the interplay between structural and nonstructural forces in shaping marital sorting in a transitional setting. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen, and Zheng Mu*. 2026. “Three Decades of Interethnic Marriage in China: Ethnic Boundaries, Educational Sorting, and Status Exchange.” Social Science Research 136:103352.
Interethnic marriage serves as a critical lens for understanding cultural integration and status hierarchies in multiethnic societies. Using data from China’s censuses (1982–2010), we examine how these dynamics unfold where ethnic disparities intersect with state-led preferential policies. Although uncommon, intermarriage with the Han majority gradually increased, occurring most frequently among the Manchu, Mongolian, and Southern minorities, and least frequently among the Kazakh and Uyghur. After controlling for ethnic composition, most groups’ boundaries weakened over time, with the notable exception of the Manchu. Our analysis uncovers two distinct mechanisms for boundary crossing: educational assortative mating among relatively assimilated groups (e.g., Hui, Manchu, Mongolian), and status exchange for less assimilated ones. Among the latter, we find both classic and reversed patterns: Korean minorities leveraged higher education to marry Han partners, whereas Tibetan and Southern minorities, who benefit most from preferential policies, tended to marry Han spouses with higher education than expected in endogamous marriages — a “reversed” exchange in which minority status itself functions as a valued asset. These findings reveal that marriage choices reflect complex negotiations between cultural preservation, status sorting, and state-structured incentives, providing insights into the persistence and malleability of ethnic boundaries in contemporary societies. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen. 2025. “Enduring Boundaries, Emerging Bridges: Patterns of Caste and Ethnic Intermarriage in Nepal.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 100:101104.
Intermarriage is often seen as a solvent of caste and ethnic divisions. This study provides the first nationwide analysis of intermarriage in Nepal, drawing on data from the 2001 and 2011 censuses. Despite Nepal’s remarkable diversity, intermarriage remains exceedingly rare, comprising only 0.74% of all marriages. Only Madhesi Brahman/Chhetri, Newar, and MPB (Marwadi, Punjabi, Bangali) communities surpass 1%. Log-linear models reveal persistent, though weakening, intergroup boundaries, with indigenous Janajatis exhibiting greater openness. Gender asymmetries — such as lower-caste men marrying into higher-caste groups — are evident. Education most effectively facilitates intermarriage for women from disadvantaged groups (e.g., Dalits, Janajatis) but has limited or even negative effects among privileged groups. Child marriage, still present in nearly half of all unions, reinforces caste endogamy, especially among Dalits. However, unexpectedly higher intermarriage rates in child marriages among privileged communities suggest strategic out-marriages. These findings highlight the enduring resilience of caste and ethnic divisions in Nepal, while identifying educational expansion and enforcement of minimum marriage age, especially targeting disadvantaged populations, as promising pathways toward social integration. These insights carry important implications for policies aimed at reducing caste- and ethnicity-based stratification in Nepal and similarly divided societies. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen*, Senhu Wang, and Zheng Mu. 2025. “Married Couples’ Life Satisfaction and Gender Divisions of Income and Housework in China.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 46(3):738–48.
Household roles are critical determinants of married couples’ subjective well-being. One strand of the literature, focusing on income division, finds that couples experience higher well-being when husbands earn more than their wives. The other strand examines the well-being implications of housework division with mixed results. The present study synthesizes these perspectives by analyzing how combined household roles — incorporating both income and household labor divisions — relate to life satisfaction. Using longitudinal dyadic data from 12,980 couples surveyed in the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2022), results reveal that traditional income arrangements, with husbands as primary earners, consistently associate with higher life satisfaction for both spouses. This pattern is evident both between and within couples, particularly among husbands as they transition into provider roles. This becomes especially pronounced when husbands also contribute significantly to housework. Notably, a small subgroup of husbands reports higher satisfaction within non-traditional arrangements, wherein wives are primary earners and husbands handle most household chores. For wives, transitioning into a double-burden role significantly reduces their life satisfaction. These findings illustrate both continuity with and departure from traditional gender norms in China, suggesting non-traditional household roles as emerging pathways that may enhance well-being. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen. 2025. “Educational Sorting in Unions and Subjective Well-Being in Europe: Gender Differences and Contextual Variations.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 96:101020.
This study examines the associations between educational sorting — the intra-couple difference in education — and subjective well-being of heterosexual partners in Europe, independent of each partner’s education status. It extends the literature by exploring whether and how these associations vary across societies and normative climates. A sample of 180,733 respondents in marriage or cohabitation from 29 countries was selected from Rounds 1–10 (2002–2020) of the European Social Survey and analyzed using the Diagonal Mobility Models. Pooled analyses show that net of status effects, hypergamy (women partnering with more educated men) was associated with lower well-being for both genders, and men were more satisfied with life in hypogamous relationships (partnering with more educated women). These patterns varied across societies, illustrated, for instance, by a hypergamy advantage among men in Southern Europe and women in the Baltic states. Notably, women’s well-being disadvantage in hypergamy was exacerbated in contexts where such partnerships were less normative. These findings provide unique insights into the diverse well-being outcomes of assortative mating between genders and across societies, shaped, in part, by societal norms. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen, and Zheng Mu*. 2025. “Partnership Trajectories toward Childlessness in China.” Family Relations 74(2):901–15.
OBJECTIVE
Drawing on the life course perspective, this study examined partnership trajectories of childless individuals to understand the drivers and processes of becoming childless in China.
BACKGROUND
Despite the rise in childlessness in China, little is known about the within-group heterogeneity in partnership trajectories leading to childlessness and their sociodemographic correlates.
METHOD
The study employed sequence analysis and multinomial and ordinary least squares regressions using a sample of 778 childless men and women aged 40 and above from the China Family Panel Studies in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
RESULTS
Five clusters of partnership trajectories were identified: never partnered (51.8%), early marriage (24.8%), late marriage (9.4%), on-time marriage (9.3%), and unpartnered via divorce and widowhood (4.9%). Men with low socioeconomic status were most likely to become childless through never being married, and their privileged counterparts were mostly through on-time or late marriage. The early-marriage and unpartnered clusters mostly consisted of women, and among women, those with an urban hukou or low education were more likely to be divorced. The overall heterogeneity in partnership trajectories to childlessness declined, and most complexity observed was limited to the unpartnered cluster.
CONCLUSION
Partnership trajectories to childlessness in China are heterogeneous and stratified but increasingly homogenous.
IMPLICATION
Due to the persistent connections between marriage and childbearing, Chinese individuals become childless through more standardized life course trajectories than before. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan*, and Christine Ho. 2024. “Diverse Pathways to Permanent Childlessness in Singapore: A Latent Class Analysis.” Advances in Life Course Research 61:100628.
The proportions of adults reaching midlife without having children have been rising rapidly across the globe, particularly in Asia. However, little is known about the pathways to permanent childlessness within the region’s childless population. This study utilized a latent class analysis (LCA) to typologize pathways to childlessness based on dynamic characteristics of multiple life domains (i.e., partnership, education, and occupation) among 489 childless Singaporeans aged 50 and above from a 2022 nationwide survey. Additionally, we utilized multinomial logistic regressions to examine the sociodemographic correlates of pathway profiles and Shannon’s entropy index to assess the heterogeneity in pathways to childlessness among successive cohorts. Results revealed five distinct profiles of pathways to childlessness: the Never-Married Semi-Professionals, the Low-Flex Blue-Collars, the Highly Educated Professionals, the Ever-Married Semi-Professionals, and the Flexible Blue-Collars. These pathway profiles were significantly associated with sociodemographic characteristics such as gender and family background. Women’s pathways to childlessness were more standardized and heavily influenced by partnership characteristics, compared to those of men. The childless from privileged family background were less likely to follow pathways characterized by disadvantageous education and occupational status. There are also rising trends of voluntary childlessness among married childless individuals and increasing heterogeneity in pathways to childlessness across successive birth cohorts. In sum, our findings are consistent with some of the predictions of the Second Demographic Transition, suggesting that Singapore may be experiencing a demographic transition characterized by rising childlessness, decoupling of marriage and childbearing, and de-standardization of the life course. PDF · DOI · ReplicationWang, Yanwen. 2024. “Educational Mobility and Subjective Well-Being from an Intergenerational Perspective.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 90:100917.
The well-being implications of intergenerational educational mobility have been extensively studied, yet the focus predominantly lies on primary movers — individuals who themselves move up or down the educational ladder. Less is known about the impact of adult children’s educational mobility on their parents’ subjective well-being. Moreover, the role of family structures and gender dynamics in shaping the well-being outcomes of such mobility has often been overlooked. The study employs the Diagonal Mobility Model to estimate the effects of net mobility on subjective well-being, independently of both parents’ (origin) and their adult children’s (destination) educational levels, using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies. The results show that the subjective well-being of both generations was influenced by origin and destination, with a more pronounced effect from their own education. Notably, downward mobility adversely affected individuals’ and their parents’ subjective well-being, a phenomenon observed exclusively among those in only-child families. Among these parents, mothers with an upwardly mobile daughter reported the highest life satisfaction. These findings point to a shift in the traditional gendered parent-child dynamics and underscore the adverse consequences of downward mobility that sway both generations in only-child families.
Manuscripts Under Revision
Wang, Yanwen, and Zheng Mu. “His, Hers, or the State’s? Fertility Patterns in Interethnic Marriage Under China’s One-Child Policy.” (Major Revision, Demography)
This study examines fertility patterns across ethnicities in China, focusing on Han–minority intermarriages that were often exempted from the One-Child Policy. We investigate whether fertility in these unions exhibits gender-symmetric outcomes (e.g., assimilation, convergence) or gendered transmission of norms, and how these patterns vary by policy constraints. Using census data (1982–2015), we identify an overall pattern of asymmetric convergence: fertility in exogamy falls between the endogamous norms of each partner’s group but gravitates toward the lower-fertility Han majority. Analysis by parity reveals a first-birth premium coupled with assimilation at higher parities, suggesting that intermarriage accelerates the transition to parenthood without increasing completed family size relative to the Han. Notably, policy exemptions elevate higher-order fertility in intermarriage toward minority levels. However, heterogeneity exists: alongside assimilation or convergence (e.g., Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan), we identify a stronger influence of maternal norms among Southern minorities and gendered deficits in higher-order births among Hui and Korean intermarriages. Importantly, most of these patterns were historical, characterizing the early years of the One-Child Policy, and had largely dissipated by 2015 as fertility differentials across groups narrowed. These findings highlight the interplay of ethnic norms, gender dynamics, and state interventions in shaping fertility decisions.Wang, Yanwen. “The Ideational Turn in Assortative Mating.” (Major Revision, Sociology Compass)
Research on assortative mating has long documented how individuals sort into partnerships by ascribed characteristics such as race/ethnicity and achieved markers such as education. Yet an ideational turn is now underway: beyond status, individuals increasingly sort on secular, individualized values, beliefs, and life orientations when choosing partners. In this article, I argue that ideational sorting is emerging from the weakening of normative constraints on partner selection, the growing prioritization of self-actualization in intimate life, and rising heterogeneity of values within status groups, even as important obstacles continue to limit its reach. I review emerging evidence that couples sort on ideational characteristics — such as gender role attitudes and fertility intentions — in ways not reducible to status alone. I then discuss the implications for family life, social stratification, and demographic transitions, and outline methodological approaches, particularly survey experiments and digital trace data from dating platforms, that can help disentangle initial selection from subsequent socialization. Finally, I set out an agenda for future research in this nascent but consequential field.Wang, Yanwen, Zheng Mu, Anni Ni, and Chan Zhang. “From Status to Soul: Gendered Ideals and Quests for Compatibility in Contemporary Relationships.” (Major Revision, Chinese Sociological Review)
The individualization of personal life has spurred a shift in relationship ideals, from instrumental, role-based marital arrangements structured around gendered expectations to partnerships emphasizing autonomy, emotional fulfillment, and mutual compatibility. However, this process unfolds differently for women and men. This study examines gendered ideals and quests for compatibility in contemporary intimate relationships across key sociodemographic and ideational attributes. Drawing on data from a factorial survey experiment conducted among 1,225 never-married adults in China’s largest metropolises, the results reveal that women hold more progressive ideals than men, prioritizing not only a partner’s socioeconomic status but also egalitarian traits, such as the willingness to share housework. Unlike men, who show strong aversion to childfree partners, women are generally neutral toward a partner’s fertility intentions. Furthermore, while men apply ideational standards in a more rigid and absolute manner, women display greater flexibility, seeking alignment between their own and their potential partner’s ideational traits, especially for marriage. These findings underscore the persistent gender asymmetries underlying the transition toward individualized forms of partnership.Wang, Yanwen, Zheng Mu, Anni Ni, and Chan Zhang. “Partner Preferences Among Never-Married Adults: A Factorial Survey Experiment in Urban China.” (Major Revision, Family Relations)
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the factors influencing perceived attractiveness of a romantic partner in urban China.
BACKGROUND
Amidst the deinstitutionalization of marriage, ideational factors have come to play a more central role in partner selection. Concurrently, gender differences in relationship expectations have intensified.
METHOD
A factorial survey experiment was conducted to investigate how sociodemographic and ideational attributes influence perceptions of partner attractiveness in both marital and dating contexts. Data were collected between April and May 2025 from a sample of 1,225 never-married heterosexual respondents aged 25–34 across four metropolises: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
RESULTS
When seeking marriage partners, men prioritized fertility intentions, whereas women emphasized gender role attitudes, socioeconomic prospects, and emotional support; however, in dating contexts, both genders prioritized physical appearance, although men did so by a wider margin relative to other attributes. Gender differences were most evident in perceptions of housework arrangements, with neither gender willing to assume a greater share; in fertility intentions, where a partner’s unwillingness to have children was the strongest deterrent to marital attractiveness from men’s perspective but inconsequential to women; and in educational attainment, which women valued more than men did. Overall, women were perceived as more attractive in both marital and dating contexts.
CONCLUSION
Profound gender differences in relationship ideals are likely driving the retreat from marriage in urban China. Bridging these gaps is crucial to alleviating such tensions.
Working Papers
Wang, Yanwen. “Ethnic Boundaries and Intermarriage in Post-Socialist Mongolia.”
This study examines ethnic boundaries and intermarriage in Mongolia over three decades of post-socialist transition — a context where Khalkha-centric nationalism forged under socialism is contested by a post-1990 revival of sub-national ethnic consciousness. Drawing on Population Censuses (1989–2020), I document intermarriage trends across four categories: Khalkha, Oirat, Turkic, and Peripheral minorities. I also assess boundary permeability and the role of educational sorting in facilitating boundary-crossing, using log-linear models and the Exchange Index. Intermarriage rose from 5.93% in 1989 to 10.21% in 2020. Boundaries between the Khalkha majority and both Oirat and Peripheral minorities weakened substantially, and educational assortative mating was effective for crossing them. The Turkic group, however, maintained strong endogamy, and educational sorting did little to bridge the divide. No evidence of status exchange was found.- Preprint · DOI
Wang, Yanwen, and Zheng Mu. “Asymmetric Assimilation: Intermarriage and Ethnic Disparities in Women’s Full-Time Homemaking in China.”
Despite progress toward gender equality in China, recent decades have witnessed a resurgence of patriarchal values, reflected in a growing number of women leaving the labor force to become full-time homemakers. Using census data from 1982 to 2015, this study examines ethnic variations in this trend, with a particular focus on interethnic marriages. Results reveal an overall increase in homemaking that varies across ethnic groups: women from Manchu, Mongolian, and Muslim groups (Hui, Kazakh, Uyghur) are more likely to be full-time homemakers than Han majority women, whereas Korean, Tibetan, and Southern minority women exhibit lower probabilities. Analysis of intermarriage reveals asymmetric assimilation: Han women’s homemaking rates remain relatively stable regardless of spousal ethnicity, while minority women’s rates converge toward Han norms. Among groups whose traditional norms favor homemaking (e.g., Manchu, Mongolian, Muslim), higher education and greater prefecture-level Han presence amplify the declines in homemaking associated with intermarriage. Among groups with historically higher labor force participation (e.g., Korean, Tibetan), higher education mitigates increases in homemaking linked to intermarriage, while Han concentration exerts minimal impact. These findings suggest that asymmetric assimilation arises from a complex interplay of adaptation and resistance to Han cultural norms, offering insights into the social processes shaping gender and ethnic stratification in contemporary China. Kornrich, Sabino, Yanwen Wang, and Luca Maria Pesando. “The Norm of Parental Involvement in the United States is Shared and Unconditional.”
Parents in the United States increasingly engage in intensive parenting, yet whether the cultural norms driving these behaviors are applied uniformly across social groups and situational constraints remains unclear. Using a factorial survey experiment with 1,157 adults, this study examines the conditionality and consensus of parental involvement norms across three dimensions: personal, prescriptive, and descriptive. We find that norms of hands-on involvement are widely shared and largely unconditional. Evaluations do not meaningfully shift based on parents’ gender, marital status, education, employment, or situational stress. Educational activities are consistently prioritized over play, with play receiving significant normative penalties. Furthermore, a normative gap exists where personal and prescriptive endorsements exceed perceived descriptive compliance. These findings suggest that intensive parental involvement operates as a culturally dominant standard. By applying this standard uniformly without accommodating constraints, broadly shared parenting norms may inadvertently convert resource inequality into evaluative inequality, compounding social pressures on disadvantaged parents.