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Age at marriage and the risk of divorce in England and Wales
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Lampard, Richard (2013) Age at marriage and the risk of divorce in England and Wales. Demographic Research, Volume 29 . pp. 167-202. Article number 7. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.7 ISSN 1435-9871.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.7
Abstract
Background: A well-documented association exists between age at marriage and the risk of divorce. However, substantial gaps in our knowledge and understanding of its origins, nature, and implications still exist.
Objectives: This article documents the relationship between women's ages at first marriage and marriage cohort divorce rates, assessing the importance of relative ages at marriage (based on rankings within marriage cohorts) and of absolute, chronological ages at marriage, and evaluating the contribution of changes in the age at marriage distribution to observed divorce rates.
Methods: Direct standardisation and logistic regression analyses are applied to published marriage and divorce data for the 1974-1994 marriage cohorts in England and Wales.
Results: Changing ages at marriage appear to have constrained the rise in divorce across the cohorts examined. However, the results suggest that much of the impact of age at marriage is linked to relative ages, reducing the extent of this 'braking' effect. It also appears that a positive effect of relative age at marriage on the risk of divorce for later marriages is outweighed by the negative effect of absolute age at marriage at higher ages.
Conclusions: Both explanations relating to 'maturity' and explanations focusing on 'selection' or 'marriage markets' appear of relevance to the association between age at marriage and divorce.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Marriage age -- Statistics, Divorce -- Statistics | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Demographic Research | ||||||
Publisher: | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | ||||||
ISSN: | 1435-9871 | ||||||
Official Date: | 30 July 2013 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 29 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 167-202 | ||||||
Article Number: | Article number 7 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.7 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 28 July 2016 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 28 July 2016 |
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