How Do Single-Parent Family Backgrounds Affect Marriage Opportunities? Evidence from Field Experiments

Last registered on September 28, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
How Do Single-Parent Family Backgrounds Affect Marriage Opportunities? Evidence from Field Experiments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019767
Initial registration date
September 20, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 28, 2026, 8:42 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
China
Region
Experiment I: Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Harbin, and Nanning. Experiment II: Shanghai, Shenzhen, Changsha, Chongqing, Shenyang, and Jinan.

Primary Investigator

Name
An Lulu
Affiliation
Beijing Normal University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Haoran He
PI Affiliation
Business School, Beijing Normal University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Yujia Huo
PI Affiliation
Audit Bureau of Qiaoxi District, Shijiazhuang
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-09-30
End date
2024-08-18
Keywords
Gender, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
single-parent family; marriage market; discrimination; field experiments
JEL code(s)
C93; J12; J16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We investigate how single-parent family (SPF) backgrounds shape individuals’ opportunities in the marriage market via two field experiments in a large online dating market. In the first experiment, we create fictitious dater profiles with varying family backgrounds and send dating invitations to real online daters to examine whether SPF backgrounds affect initial matching opportunities. We further examine whether these effects vary with the gender of the custodial parent and the profile owner. To investigate the mechanisms underlying these differences, we conduct a second field experiment in which we exogenously manipulate the disclosure of positive and negative non-material personal characteristics and examine whether the effects of such disclosure differ by profile gender.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
He, Haoran, Yujia Huo and An Lulu. 2026. "How Do Single-Parent Family Backgrounds Affect Marriage Opportunities? Evidence from Field Experiments." AEA RCT Registry. September 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19767-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The study used fictitious profiles on a large Chinese online dating-for-marriage platform to send standardized, gender-neutral dating invitations to eligible users.
Experiment I employs a 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design in which two profile characteristics – family background and gender – are experimentally manipulated. Family background was signaled through the self-assessment text and the platform’s family-status field. Income, age, and education were additionally varied across profile configurations.
Experiment II retained the profile-gender and family-background manipulations and added three non-material information disclosure conditions: no additional information, negative personality information, and positive marriage-attitude information. Income was also varied across profile configurations, while age and education were held fixed. Other displayed profile characteristics were kept statistically comparable across experimental conditions.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2023-12-14
Intervention End Date
2024-04-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Response: an indicator equal to one if the contacted user sent a non-negative response to the standardized invitation, and zero otherwise.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Response is coded from message records following the standardized invitation. A non-negative reply is coded as a response.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Positive response: an indicator equal to one if the contacted user sent a reply expressing a clear willingness to communicate or interest in further interaction, and zero otherwise.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Positive responses are coded from message records following the standardized invitation. A positive reply is coded as a positive response.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Fictitious profiles were constructed so that displayed characteristics other than the experimentally varied attributes were statistically comparable across conditions. Eligible decision-makers were active platform users residing in an experimental city, aged 24–37 years and with a profile photograph. Fictitious profiles sent a standardized invitation to randomly selected eligible decision-makers.
Experiment I was conducted in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Harbin, and Nanning. It crossed two profile genders with three family-background conditions. In addition, income, age, and education were varied across profile configurations. Experiment II was conducted in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Changsha, Chongqing, Shenyang, and Jinan. It crossed two profile genders, three family-background conditions, and three information-disclosure conditions. Income was varied across profile configurations, while age and education were held fixed.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Within each experimental city, eligible decision-makers were randomly selected from the city-specific sample pool for each fictitious profile.
Randomization Unit
Individual eligible platform user (decision-maker)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable
Sample size: planned number of observations
16,176 observations in total: 10,560 in Experiment I and 5,616 in Experiment II.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Experiment I: 1,760 observations in each of the six profile-gender × family-background treatment arms. Experiment II: 312 observations in each of the eighteen profile-gender × family-background × information-disclosure treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
No ex ante power calculation or minimum detectable effect size calculation was conducted.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Review Committee of the School of Economics and Business Administration, Beijing Normal University
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-22
IRB Approval Number
BNU-BS-IRB 2023-016
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
April 06, 2024, 12:00 AM +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
April 06, 2024, 12:00 AM +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Not applicable. Treatment was assigned at the individual decision-maker level rather than at the cluster level.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
16,176 observations in total: 10,560 in Experiment I and 5,616 in Experiment II.
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Experiment I: 1,760 observations in each of the six profile-gender × family-background treatment arms. Experiment II: 312 observations in each of the eighteen profile-gender × family-background × information-disclosure treatment arms.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials