&gt; In a specific cohort lets say age 18-35 - is the only thing that matters for this study &quot;access&quot; to women not how many women a man can married?<p>No. What seems to matter in the study is <i>whether men have acceptable marriage prospects</i>. (It&#x27;d be interesting to see, in that context, whether permitting same-sex marriage reinforces the effect observed and further reduces the same problems. It&#x27;d also be interesting to see, as marriage itself becomes less of an expectation, whether the effect is more from men being married -- in which case denormalizing marriage would be expected to reverse the benefits -- or whether the effect is more from men <i>not</i> being alienated by being unable to meet a social expectation of marriage -- in which case denormalizing marriage would be expected to reinforce the benefits.)