Individual and Structural Determinants of Marital Stability: Matchmaking, Gender Ratio, and Modernization in Cambodia

Patrick Heuveline, University of Chicago
Bunnak Poch, University of Chicago

Over the past 30 years, the Cambodian marriage system has experienced a series of potentially destabilizing factors. This paper assesses the impact of three central factors on marital stability: (1) a radical change in the way marriages were arranged under the Khmers Rouges, (2) a very low gender ratio in the adult population in the following years, and (3) in the last decade, the rapid opening of a society long isolated from Western economic and cultural influences. Surprisingly, the latter is found to have the largest negative impact on marital stability, whereas the cohorts married during the Khmers Rouges do not stand out. These findings suggest than the quality of the spousal match at the time of marriage may matter less for future marital stability than the economic and cultural environment provided by the subsequent periods and the impact they may have on the trade-off between separating and staying married.