Marriage: distance between birthplaces and age difference between mates.

The methodology of potential mate analysis can be used to obtain information about the determinants of marriage. This study investigates the influence of the distance between birthplaces and of age difference between mates. We use a new method of potential mate analysis that involves a sample of potential mates simulated from a sequence of actual mates. The differences between actual and potential mates are investigated using a logistic model and by direct comparison of distributions. The logistic model gives a poor fit. The comparison of distributions reveals no significant difference in distance between birthplaces for actual and potential mates or, at any rate, no difference large enough to be demonstrated by our small sample. A marked difference is observed for marriages in which the male is slightly older. The distance between birthplaces in our sample is shorter than in Great Britain.