Delayed Entry into First Marriage: Further Evidence on the Becker-Landes-Michael Hypothesis

30 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2012

See all articles by Evelyn L. Lehrer

Evelyn L. Lehrer

University of Illinois at Chicago - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Yu Chen

University of Illinois at Chicago

Abstract

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 as the biological clock begins to tick. In analyses of the 2006-2010 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG), we find evidence of the existence of this effect: women who delay marriage disproportionately make unconventional matches, which are generally associated with high marital instability (N = 3,184). We also find, however, that their unions are very solid. We develop and test competing hypotheses that can account for these patterns. In addition, noting that women's delayed transition to first marriage has been accompanied by higher proportions of women entering marriage with 16 years of schooling or more, we examine changes across the last three NSFG cycles in the education - marital instability association.

Keywords: divorce, marital stability, marital instability, marriage, marriage dissolution

JEL Classification: J12

Suggested Citation

Lehrer, Evelyn L. and Chen, Yu, Delayed Entry into First Marriage: Further Evidence on the Becker-Landes-Michael Hypothesis. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6729, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2114909 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2114909

Evelyn L. Lehrer (Contact Author)

University of Illinois at Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

725 University Hall (UH)
Chicago, IL 60607-7121
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Yu Chen

University of Illinois at Chicago

1200 W Harrison St
Chicago, IL 60607
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
96
Abstract Views
635
Rank
492,371
PlumX Metrics