Measuring the partner market

Jan Eckhard, Universität Heidelberg
Johannes Stauder, Universität Heidelberg
Laura Unsöld, Universität Heidelberg
Tom Kossow, Universität Heidelberg

The research project “Macro-structural conditions of the partner market in longitudinal perspective” applies elaborated partner market measures – like the “availability ratio” suggested by Goldman et al. (1984) – to detect variations, influencing factors and consequences of partner market conditions in Germany between 1985 and 2011. Our presentation will introduce 1) the project’s theoretical approach and 2) the applied concept for measuring the partner market. The presentation will also contain main results of the project concerning issues like 3) the variation of partner market opportunities over the male and female life course, 4) differences in partner marked conditions between cohorts, 6) differences between the regions and effect of internal migration on local partner markets, 7) the impact of the partner market on couple relationships.