Liu Zhongyi, China Population and Development Research Center

Marriage squeeze refers to the structural squeeze in the marriage market due to the imbalance of the sex ratio of the marriageable age population, which makes it difficult for the marriageable age population of a certain sex to find a spouse. Traditionally, the main concept and analytical framework for measuring marriage squeeze is the operational sex ratio. With the deepening of marriage squeeze research, 

people found that when using the operational sex ratio to measure the marriage market situation, many related variables need to be controlled. Factors such as preference of age was brought into the evaluation of marriage opportunities, and then developed into concepts such as the generalized effective operational sex ratio (marriageable ratio) and the narrow effective operational sex ratio (marriageable index). The former refers to the ratio between men and women who can get or marry in a specific marriage market. The latter refers to taking into account the preference of age that change with their age and the same-sex competition and heterosexual mutual selection. It is not only considered how many men (women) are suitable for sex, but also how many people will choose him (her) among them. Later, because researchers were generally aware of the differences in individuals’ perception of gender imbalance and marriage squeeze, perceived operational sex ratio was gradually applied to the study as a theoretical framework for analyzing marriage squeeze. Perceived operational sex ratio not only considers the matching of the number of men and women and the stipulation of age difference habits, but also considers the influence of various factors such as social economy and spouse preference that actually exist in the implementation of social marriage. As the perceived operational sex ratio comprehensively considers the advantages and disadvantages of previous concepts and makes innovative development, it has become one of the ideal concepts and analytical frameworks for people to study marriage squeeze.

This paper is collected in the Social Sciences in Shenzhen.

Keywords: marriage squeeze; operational sex ratio; effective operational sex ratio; perceived operational sex ratio; mate choice behavior