Assortative mating among Dutch married and cohabiting same-sex and different-sex couples

The authors compared male and female same-sex and different-sex couples in the Netherlands with respect to age and educational homogamy. Because many same-sex couples in the Netherlands are married, differences between married and cohabiting couples were analyzed for all 3 groups. Analyses of data from the Dutch Labor Force Surveys 2001-2007 (N = 184,999 couples) showed that male same-sex couples are less homogamous in terms of age and education than different-sex couples. Female same-sex couples are less homogamous in terms of age, but not in terms of education. No meaningful differences were found between married couples and cohabiting couples. Partnership status appeared less important than the sex composition of the couple. Given the relatively tolerant climate toward homosexuals in the Netherlands, the similarity of the results with those yielded by studies conducted in the United States may be considered striking.