Imbalanced Sex Ratios and Marital Transitions in Mexico

Abstract

Migration from Mexico to the United States results in numerical imbalances between men and women in the communities left behind, but little is known about how these imbalanced sex ratios in Mexican communities affect family formation behavior. Using two waves of data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS) and 2000 Mexican census data, we examine how the sex composition of the municipality population is associated with the likelihood that Mexican women and men marry. Consistent with demographic-opportunity theory, but not sociocultural theory, results from logistic regression analyses show that men’s probability of marrying is positively associated with the numerical availability of eligible women in the municipality population. Consistent with the argument that many Mexican migrant men, but not migrant women, remain eligible partners for those who remain in Mexico, the sex composition of the municipal population is significantly associated with men’s but not women’s likelihood of marrying.