The effect of non-family experiences on age of marriage in a setting of rapid social change

Abstract

This study examines the changing effects of non-family activities on the age of transition to first marriage in four cohorts of individuals across 45 years in the Chitwan Valley, Nepal. The results indicate that school enrolment had a negative effect on both men's and women's marriage rates, while total years of schooling had a positive effect on men's marriage rates. Non-family employment experiences increased marriage rates for men only. Analysing the effects of schooling and employment over time suggests that school enrolment became a growing deterrent to marriage for both sexes, and that non-family employment became an increasingly desirable attribute in men. The results are consistent with changing views about sex roles and schooling over time in the region, as the roles of student and spouse became more distinct. The results also suggest an increasing integration of husbands in the non-family labour market.

Keywords:

• social change
• family
• household
• marriage
• Nepal
• educational status
• school
• employment

Notes

1. Scott T. Yabiku is at the Department of Sociology, Arizona State University, PO Box 874802, Tempe, AZ 85287-4802, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

2. The author wishes to thank William G. Axinn, Jennifer Barber, Arland Thornton, Yu Xie, and Susan Murphy for their helpful comments on previous drafts of this paper.