Age at first marriage and its determinants in Bangladesh

The authors investigate marriage patterns and their determinants in Bangladesh, using data from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey. "It is believed that, whatever is the impact of the differentials that could be discerned from the analysis, a lower age at marriage (a) among rural women, (b) among those who are Muslims and (c) among those without pre-marital exposure to work is associated with a low level of education."

The impact of social status and migration on female age at marriage in an historical population in north-west Germany

It has been suggested that parish-based reconstitution studies may underestimate the true age at marriage because they do not normally include data for emigrants who may be expected to behave differently from individuals who remain in their natal parishes. This study uses data from C18-19th parish registers of north-west Germany to estimate the difference in age at marriage between leavers and stayers. The difference is not significant for males; although that for females is significant, it is small and the consequence of failing to include migrants is likely to be negligible for most studies. However, it is shown that there is also an independent effect on age at marriage that is due to the woman's natal social (economic) status; historical demographic studies that ignore this dimension may risk confounding two different effects.

Age at first marriage in Viet Nam: patterns and determinants

"Using data from the 1991 Viet Nam Life History Survey, this article examines the patterns and determinants of age at first marriage. It shows that socio-economic and political changes during the last few decades are associated with a shift to older ages of first marriage. It identifies regional variations and discusses the significant impact of warfare on the country's age patterns of marriage. It concludes by bringing out the implications of the study for policy purposes." The full text is of this article is available electronically through www.undp.org/popin.

Do men with higher wages marry earlier or later?

"Using data from Taiwan, this paper shows that marriage age is negatively (positively) related to the wage rate in the sample with nonworking (working) wives. The results reconcile the two contrasting hypotheses on the relation between wages and marriage age for men."

Bridewealth, marriage and fertility in the east-central states of Nigeria

"The paper examines the determinants of high bridewealth in the east-central states of Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo, and relates high bridewealth to rising age at marriage among both men and women. High and rising bridewealth in Igboland is associated with the prevailing economic situation, socio-economic status of bride's parents, raising incidence of self-selection of marital partners in place of arranged marriages, and particularly increasing female education.... Rising age at marriage in Igboland cannot be understood only on the basis of increasing urbanization, female education and employment opportunities, but also on the basis of rising bridewealth which reduces the tempo of marriage....The study ends with an investigation of the determinants of marital fertility through the use of a causal model that includes bridewealth, age at marriage and other socio-economic variables." (SUMMARY IN ITA AND FRE)

Race differences in changing family demographics in the 1980s

Traditional demarcators of family formation and dissolution have changed dramatically over the past few decades and Black-White differences have become pronounced. In this article, we explore the degree to which a relatively small set of variables can account for racial difference in timing of initiation of sexual activity, first marriage, first birth, and divorce. The independent variables included in the model are adolescent living arrangements (single-parent vs. two-parent), mother's educational level, religion, region of the country, area of residency (urban, suburban, rural), birth cohort, and year of the survey. Based on hazard models for the rate of occurrence of each event, we estimate how Blacks would differ if they had mean values on covariates equal to White observed means. Although the results differ for the four dependent variables, this particular set of independent variables does not provide a satisfactory explanation of the differences between Black and White family formation and dissolution. Blacks and Whites may be responding to different structural and cultural constraints not easily captured by basic demographic variables.

Determinants of age at marriage in Karnataka during 1971-1981: a district level analysis

"In this paper we examined the interdistrict variations in mean age at marriage of males and females in Karnataka [India] in two points of time, 1971 and 1981, and also the possible factors influencing this variation....A multivariate analysis of the determinants of mean age at marriage in Karnataka showed that literacy rate, sex ratio of the population and percentage of villages electrified are important in explaining the regional and time variation in age at marriage of both sexes.... Our regression results indicated that a 10 per cent increase in female literacy rate is associated with approximately one-year increase in female age at marriage. However, neither the increase in female literacy nor the changes in the sex ratio of the population could explain all the increase in female age at marriage during 1971-81. This indirectly suggests that there was an increase in female age at marriage among all socio-economic groups."

Educational expansion and changes in entry into marriage and motherhood. The experience of Italian women

"The purpose of this paper has been to assess empirically the question of whether women's growing economic independence, resulting from better education, is one of the major factors in determining the timing of marriage and motherhood in Italy.... We have analysed the life histories of a sample of Italian women from different cohorts, collected on the occasion of the National Survey on Family Structures and Behaviours carried on by the National Institute of Statistics.... The effect of level of education is negative. That is, it increases the age of entry into marriage. However, the size of the effect is small and seems limited to the passage from youth to adulthood, because the longer time the woman spends in the educational system increases the age at which she feels herself ready to marry. As far as the timing of the first child, it is almost independent of educational attainment, once marital status is taken into account." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND ITA)

Regional variations in the female age at marriage in India: an analysis by agro-climatic zones

"The effect of agro-climatic factors on female age at marriage [in India] is studied by carrying out areal analysis of the 1981 Census data. The study found a close association between agricultural and climatic conditions in an area and corresponding female age at marriage. In general, women in Himalayan regions and coastal areas have higher age at marriage than most hinterland regions. Rainfall, altitude, forest area, land availability and productivity are observed to be associated with female age at marriage. In addition, female age at marriage in rural areas is found to be more sensitive to the agro-climatic conditions. It is hypothesized that with socio-economic and technological development, the agricultural and climatic factors are losing their grip on female age at marriage in India."

An integrated path analysis approach to study the variation in the age of female nuptiality of Orissa

"In this article an attempt is made to study the effect of various socio-economic and demographic factors on the variation of the age at marriage of the females from one district to another district in Orissa [India]. Hence the study has been performed at state level by considering various districts as separate units of variation. For comparison, this work has been studied in three different situations of Orissa, namely, rural, urban and rural-urban combined."

Levels, trends and determinants of female age at marriage in Orissa, 1961-81

"The present paper attempts to study the levels, trends and determinants of female age at marriage during 1961-81 in Orissa [India] at district level by residential background.... The result shows...a considerable increase in female age at marriage in each of the two successive decades, 1961-71 and 1971-81.... The variable percentage of female workforce in [the] non-agricultural sector seems to be [a] strong determinant of female age at marriage in Orissa." Data are from the 1961, 1971, and 1981 Indian censuses.