The purpose of this research is to assess the relationship between in heritance rules, and marriage and population structure. Differential mating op
portunity is evaluated under conditions of partible and impartible inheritance by contrasting demographic characteristics of maters with those of nonmaters. Age
at marriage and characteristics of the family of origin are compared between the
populations of St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, where inheritance is partible,
and Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland, where inheritance is impartible. These
factors do not significantly affect mating opportunity where inheritance is parti
ble. In contrast, where inheritance is impartible, birth order and sibship size have
a considerable impact on the probability of marriage for both males and females.
Temporal variation in these patterns for cohorts born between 1881 and 1940 is assessed, and implications for populations structure discussed.
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