A New Methodological Framework for Studying Status Exchange in Marriage.

We propose a new methodological framework for studying status exchange in marriage. As shown in recent debates on status-race or status-beauty exchange, the conventional loglinear modeling approach is prone to controversial specifications and alternative interpretations. In this study, we develop a simple method - the Exchange Index - with cohort-and-gender-specific relative status measures, statistical distribution balancing, and nonparametric matching. While allowing for multiple covariate controls, our Exchange Index measures the average difference in spouse's status between intermarriages and matched ingroup marriages. To demonstrate the new framework, we use two analytical examples of status-race and status-age exchange, based on the IPUMS 2000 US Census 5% microdata sample. To verify our new method, we also conduct replication and simulation studies. Our approach reduces model dependency, improves flexibility to account for confounders, allows for examination of heterogeneous patterns, speaks to fundamental concepts in status exchange theory, and takes advantage of increasingly available large-scale microdata.