IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v6y2017i1p9-d87959.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marriage Formation in Context: Four Decades in Comparative Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Geist

    (Department of Sociology, University of Utah, 380 S 1530 E RM 301, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA)

Abstract

Marriage formation is deeply embedded in societal context. This study documents trends towards lower marriage rates and delayed marriage in Europe and the US. Using time series analyses, it shows the relevance of economic and gender context in understanding marriage formation. The study extends previous work by including more countries, a longer time period, and by examining changes in predictors of marriage patterns over time. Analyses show that the association between economic context and marriage rates weakens over time, but the role of gender equality and policy context remain stable. Differences in age at first marriage across policy clusters are diminishing. Although greater gender equality is consistently linked to later marriage entry, the link between economic context and age at first marriage is changing. Changes in predictors of cross-national marriage patterns over time strongly suggest the institution of marriage itself is changing.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Geist, 2017. "Marriage Formation in Context: Four Decades in Comparative Perspective," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:1:p:9-:d:87959
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/1/9/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/1/9/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunnar Andersson, 1998. "Trends in Marriage Formation in Sweden 1971–1993," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 157-178, June.
    2. Lynn White, 1981. "A note on racial differences in the effecty of female economic opportunity on marriage rates," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(3), pages 349-354, August.
    3. Ruud, Paul A., 2000. "An Introduction to Classical Econometric Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195111644.
    4. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    5. Pamela Smock & Wendy Manning, 1997. "Cohabiting partners’ economic circumstances and marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(3), pages 331-341, August.
    6. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    7. Samuel Preston & Alan Richards, 1975. "The influence of women’s work opportunities on marriage rates," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 12(2), pages 209-222, May.
    8. Maria Winkler-Dworak & Henriette Engelhardt, 2004. "On the tempo and quantum of first marriages in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 10(9), pages 231-264.
    9. Michaela Kreyenfeld & Gunnar Andersson & Ariane Pailhé, 2012. "Economic Uncertainty and Family Dynamics in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(28), pages 835-852.
    10. Nicole Hiekel & Aart Liefbroer & Anne-Rigt Poortman, 2014. "Understanding Diversity in the Meaning of Cohabitation Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 391-410, November.
    11. Samuel Preston, 1997. "Comment on steven ruggles’s “the rise of divorce and separation in the United States, 1880–1990”," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(4), pages 473-474, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laurie Fields DeRose, 2021. "Gender Equity, Religion, and Fertility in Europe and North America," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 41-55, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanne S. Muller & Nicole Hiekel & Aart C. Liefbroer, 2020. "The Long-Term Costs of Family Trajectories: Women’s Later-Life Employment and Earnings Across Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 1007-1034, June.
    2. Francois Nielsen & David Bradley & John D. Stephens & Evelyne Huber & Stephanie Moller, 2001. "The Welfare State and Gender Equality," LIS Working papers 279, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Hyejin Ko, 2020. "Measuring fiscal sustainability in the welfare state: fiscal space as fiscal sustainability," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 531-554, May.
    4. Elena Bastianelli & Raffaele Guetto & Daniele Vignoli, 2023. "Employment Protection Legislation, Labour Market Dualism, and Fertility in Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-27, December.
    5. Uta Brehm & Henriette Engelhardt, 2015. "On the age-specific correlation between fertility and female employment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(23), pages 691-722.
    6. Daniele Vignoli & Alessandra Minello & Giacomo Bazzani & Camilla Matera & Chiara Rapallini, 2022. "Narratives of the Future Affect Fertility: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(1), pages 93-124, March.
    7. Giammarco Alderotti & Daniele Vignoli & Michela Baccini & Anna Matysiak, 2019. "Employment Uncertainty and Fertility: A Network Meta-Analysis of European Research Findings," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2019_06, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    8. Pau Baizán & Arnstein Aassve & Francesco C. Billari, 2002. "Institutional arrangements and life course outcomes: the interrelations between cohabitation, marriage and first birth in Germany and Sweden," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-026, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Layla Van den Berg & Jonas Wood & Karel Neels, 2021. "Socioeconomic preconditions to union formation: Exploring variation by migrant background," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(32), pages 973-1010.
    10. Brady, David & Beckfield, Jason & Seeleib-Kaiser, Martin, 2004. "Economic Globalization and the Welfare State in Affluent Democracies, 1975-1998," Working papers of the ZeS 12/2004, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    11. Pablo Beramendi, 2001. "The Politics of Income Inequality in the OECD: The Role of Second Order Effects," LIS Working papers 284, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    12. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2000. "Institutions in comparative policy research," MPIfG Working Paper 00/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Susanne Fahlén & Livia Sz. Oláh, 2018. "Economic uncertainty and first-birth intentions in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(28), pages 795-834.
    14. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2004. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 04/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    15. Henriette Engelhardt & Alexia Prskawetz, 2009. "A Pooled Time-Series Analysis on the Relation Between Fertility and Female Employment," European Demographic Research Papers 0501, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    16. Francesca Giambona & Laura Grassini & Daniele Vignoli, 2022. "Detecting economic insecurity in Italy: a latent transition modelling approach," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 31(4), pages 815-846, October.
    17. Daniele Vignoli & Valentina Tocchioni & Alessandra Mattei, 2018. "First-Birth Gains and Losses from the First Job in Italy: The Role of Employment Uncertainty," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2018_02, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    18. Jia Yu & Yu Xie, 2015. "Changes in the Determinants of Marriage Entry in Post-Reform Urban China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1869-1892, December.
    19. Daniele Vignoli & Raffaele Guetto & Giacomo Bazzani & Elena Pirani & Alessandra Minello, 2020. "Economic Uncertainty and Fertility in Europe: Narratives of the Future," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2020_01, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    20. Wonik Kim, 2007. "Social Risk and Social Insurance," Rationality and Society, , vol. 19(2), pages 229-254, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:1:p:9-:d:87959. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.