Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

To describe and analyse geographical and social aspects of marital choice in modern Britain and to investigate their likely genetical import. Marital choice is important biologically because partners with remote origins tend to be genetically more different than those with close origins. Proximity of partners may thus affect genetical variance, the size and ease of definition of breeding populations and ultimately evolution. This research aimed to fulfil the need for a study of modern urban marriage in a way which facilitated analysis of social factors affecting choice and genetical inference from the demographic data.

Main Topics:

Variables A random sample of marriages was taken from all the marriages recorded in Reading, Berkshire from September 1972 to August 1973, and attempts were made to interview all the couples concerned. Questions were asked to determine their occupational history, the history of their geographical migration at eleven points in their life, from their parents' birthplace to their own marital home. Routine personal attributes such as age, religious affiliation and terminal age of education were also determined. The eleven grid reference points generated distances which were the main dependent variables for analysis. An attempt was made to place socio-economic analysis of marital mobility into the social setting of marital choice - asking questions on the place and occasions of the couples meeting, the role of kin and friends and neighbourhood knowledge in bringing them together, and obstacles they had experienced in keeping in touch.

Simple random sample

Face-to-face interview

Compilation or synthesis of existing material