Shale oil and gas extraction technology has caused a large shift in the United States' energy landscape over the last decade. This had a wide range of impacts on rural communities mostly in which oil and gas extraction occurs. While many studies have focused on the economic and environmental impact of shale development, researchers have only begun to study the social changes brought on by the shale resource extraction. We examine the influence of shale oil and gas employment as a share of overall county employment on county marriage, divorce, and cohabitation rates. We find evidence that oil and gas employment growth is associated with decreased marriage rates and increased divorce rates from 2009 to 2014. We test several channels through which oil and gas development may influence marriage behaviors and find that changes in female labor force participation, county sex ratios, and median household incomes are associated with oil and gas development. We also test for differences across the rural/urban continuum and find that our results are largely driven by nonmetro counties.

中文翻译：

---

页岩热潮和家庭结构：石油和天然气就业增长与婚姻、离婚和同居的关系

在过去十年中，页岩油气开采技术已经导致美国能源格局发生巨大转变。这对主要从事石油和天然气开采的农村社区产生了广泛的影响。虽然许多研究都集中在页岩开发的经济和环境影响上，但研究人员才刚刚开始研究页岩资源开采带来的社会变化。我们研究了页岩油和天然气就业占县总就业比例对县婚姻、离婚和同居率的影响。我们发现证据表明，从 2009 年到 2014 年，石油和天然气就业增长与结婚率下降和离婚率上升有关。我们测试了石油和天然气开发可能影响婚姻行为的几个渠道，发现女性劳动力参与、县性别比和家庭收入中位数的变化与石油和天然气开发有关。我们还测试了农村/城市连续体的差异，发现我们的结果主要是由非都市县推动的。