Age at Marriage and Marital Instability: Revisiting the Becker-Landes-Michael Hypothesis

Evelyn Lehrer ()

No 2166, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: An early age at first marriage is known to be associated with a high risk of divorce. Yet it has been suggested that beyond a certain point, the relationship between age at marriage and marital instability may become positive, because as unmarried women begin to hear their biological clock tick, they may settle for matches far from the optimal. Analyses based on cycles 5 and 6 of the National Surveys of Family Growth show that the relationship between age at marriage and marital instability is strongly negative up to the late twenties, with a flattening of the curve thereafter.

Keywords: divorce; marital dissolution; marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J10 J11 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2006-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - Published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2008, 21 (2), 463 - 484

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Journal Article: Age at marriage and marital instability: revisiting the Becker–Landes–Michael hypothesis (2008)
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