Reading Marriage Survey, 1974

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>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.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>Variables<br>
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.<br>
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.

<P>本摘要版权归英国数据服务中心（UK Data Service）及本次数据采集的版权所有者共同所有。</P><br>本研究旨在描述与分析现代英国婚姻选择的地理与社会维度，并探究其潜在的遗传学意义。从生物学视角来看，婚姻选择具有重要意义：出身地域相距较远的伴侣，其遗传差异往往大于出身地域相近的伴侣。因此，伴侣间的地理亲近程度可能影响遗传方差、繁育种群的规模与界定难度，并最终作用于种群演化。本研究旨在满足学界对现代城市婚姻开展相关研究的需求，采用便于分析影响婚姻选择的社会因素、并可从人口统计数据中推导遗传学结论的研究路径。<br><B>主要研究内容</B>:<BR><br>研究变量<br>研究以1972年9月至1973年8月间英国伯克郡雷丁市登记的所有婚姻为总体，抽取随机婚姻样本，并尝试对所有受访夫妇进行访谈。问卷内容涵盖夫妇的职业经历、人生中11个关键节点的地理迁移史（从父母出生地直至本人婚后居所），同时记录年龄、宗教信仰、受教育终止年龄等常规个人属性。基于上述11个网格参考点计算得到的空间距离，为本研究分析的核心因变量。<br>本研究同时尝试将婚姻流动的社会经济分析嵌入婚姻选择的社会语境中，通过问卷询问夫妇相识的地点与场合、亲属与朋友及邻里社交在促成二人结合中发挥的作用，以及双方在维系交往过程中曾遇到的阻碍。