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Delayed entry into first marriage and marital stability

Author

Listed:
  • Evelyn Lehrer

    (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign)

  • Yu Chen

    (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Abstract
Background: In their pioneering research, Becker, Landes, and Michael (1977) found that beyond age 30 there is a positive relationship between women’s age at first marriage and marital instability. They interpreted this finding as a "poor-match effect" emerging when the biological clock begins to tick. Objective: Our objective was to ascertain with more recent data whether or not there is evidence of a poor match effect and if so, whether it is associated with higher marital instability. Methods: We used data on non-Hispanic white women from the 2006-2010 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) (N = 3,184). Results: We found evidence of the existence of a poor-match effect: women who delay marriage disproportionately make unconventional matches, which are generally associated with high marital instability. We also found, however, that their unions are very solid. Both of these results were consistent with earlier findings for the 1995 and 2002-2003 NSFG cycles. In attempting to explain this puzzle, we proposed and tested competing hypotheses. We found that the destabilizing effects associated with indicators of unconventional matches are also present in marriages contracted late, but are dwarfed by the stabilizing influences associated with higher levels of education and older ages. Conclusions: This paper contributes to our understanding of the determinants of marital instability and the poor match effect by providing a new interpretation for the puzzle described above. Comments: Our findings have implications for analyses of changes over time in the extent of positive assortative mating in the marriage market, and for the extensive literature showing that heterogamy in traits that are complementary in the context of marriage is destabilizing -- heterogamous marriages contracted at a late age are likely to be stable.

Suggested Citation

  • Evelyn Lehrer & Yu Chen, 2013. "Delayed entry into first marriage and marital stability," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(20), pages 521-542.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:29:y:2013:i:20
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.20
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jorge Garcia-Hombrados & Berkay Özcan, 2024. "Age at marriage and marital stability: evidence from China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 297-328, March.
    3. Evelyn Lehrer & Yeon-jeong Son, 2017. "Women’s age at first marriage and marital instability in the United States: Differences by race and ethnicity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(9), pages 229-250.
    4. Lehrer, Evelyn L. & Son, Yeon Jeong, 2017. "Marital Instability in the United States: Trends, Driving Forces, and Implications for Children," IZA Discussion Papers 10503, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Eva Dziadula, 2018. "Timing of Naturalization Among US Immigrants," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 791-811, August.
    6. Songtao Yang, 2022. "The effects of compulsory schooling reforms on women’s marriage outcomes—evidence from Britain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1637-1662, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    divorce; marriage; marital instability; heterogamy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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