[The impact on nuptiality of unbalanced sex distribution in the marriage market. Interpretation problems]

"The impact of sex disparities in numbers on the various sex specific ratios, traditionally used in nuptiality analysis, is not clear. Most authors consider that individuals pertaining to the sex group which is in minority on the marriage market, will tend to marry sooner and at [a] higher rate, and vice versa. There are however many counter-examples. Actually, a comparative analysis of the various results obtained so far is meaningless. There is indeed no agreement on the definition of the marriage market and the unbalance of sexes, nor on the way to measure it." The focus of the study is worldwide, with emphasis on data concerning Canada. (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)

[The population explosion in Algeria: the causes, the effects, and the solutions]

"For decades Algeria has had one of the highest population growth rates in the world, arising directly from a steady gap between deathrates and birthrates. The reasons are of a complex social, economic and cultural kind, such as high infant mortality, traditionally early marriage, family models largely determined by religion, the common practice of child labour and other factors. As a consequence of the mismatch between economic and demographic growth the society is confronted by growing mass unemployment, underemployment, food supply problems, housing shortages and ecological crises. The critical economic situation in the eighties reduced the prospects for constraining the population explosion by quickly conquering socioeconomic underdevelopment. Nowadays Algeria is deliberately following a programme for family planning, which is also supported to a certain extent by the Islamic clergy." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Racial, religious, and national origin intermarriage in the U.S.: review of selected theory, method, and research

"This article summarizes the intermarriage literature with special reference to books and articles in the social sciences. The literature is partitioned into theoretical approaches, conceptualization and operationalization, computational formulas used in the reporting of intermarriage, general findings on the extent and types of intermarriage, [and] correlates of and attitudes toward racial, religious and national origin intermarriage. The authors conclude that a variety of theories and methods have [been] and continue to be employed to investigate this phenomenon. Among the findings reported are that racial intermarriages are least prevalent and national origin intermarriages the most prevalent in the United States."

[Children as a burden, children as a joy: theses on family formation and number of children]

"This article surveys significant changes in fertility and nuptiality in Central and Western Europe since the middle of the 19th century. In this context the secular decline in birth rates is understood as a consequence of changes in the social structure as well as of diffusion of social norms." It is noted that for the period after 1920, and especially after 1950, no "determinants" exist that can completely explain fluctuations in marriages and births. "Hence, the central thesis of this article is the following: There is no stable pattern of family formation in a modern industrial society and the number of children is not directly linked to mortality conditions or economic constraints. Subsequently, the article develops several hypotheses concerning the significance of marriage and parenting in the late 20th century, and points out that ups and downs in marriages, divorces, and births may be seen in analogy to other fashion-like processes (such as consumer behavior or social behavior)." (summary in ENG)

F. v. Switzerland, 18 December 1987

The applicant challenged a three-year ban on remarriage placed on him by a Swiss court pursuant to Article 150 of the Swiss Civil Code following his third divorce. The Court held that the three-year ban was in violation of Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to marry. While it recognized that the ban served a legitimate purpose of protecting marital stability, it ruled that the means chosen by the Swiss Government were disproportionate to the aim pursued.

Correlates of marital duration and black-white intermarriage in California

Characteristics of black and white intermarriages in California are examined. Findings indicate that "although there are many similarities between same-race and black-white intermarriages, marriages which involve black husbands and white wives differ in several respects from other types. Not only are they shorter in duration of marriage; they have fewer children or none at all; spouses rank relatively high in education...[and] they involve relatively few teenage marriages.... In addition, when black husbands are married to white wives, they are less likely than husbands in other marriages to file for divorce, leaving white wives to take that initiative, wives who tend to have slightly higher educational levels than their black husbands." The data are from a 10 percent sample of all marriages in 1977.