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The Government of Antigua and Barbuda succeeded to this Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages on 25 October 1988.
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Married adults are generally healthier than unmarried adults. It has been hypothesized that marriage is associated with good health because marriage has beneficial effects on health (marriage protection effects) and/or because healthier individuals are more likely to marry and to stay married (marriage selection effects). To investigate these hypotheses, this study analyzes prospective panel data for a large national sample of women in the U.S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 yr at the beginning of two successive five-year follow-up intervals. Analyses of the prospective data indicate that there were significant marriage protection effects, but only among women who were not employed. Specifically, for women who were not employed, married women had better health trends than unmarried women in each follow-up interval. It appears that marriage had beneficial effects on health for women who did not have a job which could provide an alternative source of financial resources and social support. In addition, analyses of the prospective data provide limited evidence for marriage selection effects. Specifically, women who had better health initially were more likely to marry and less likely to experience marital dissolution, but only for women who were not employed full-time and only during the first follow-up interval. Thus, the prospective evidence suggests that, for women who were not employed, both marriage protection and marriage selection effects contributed to the marital status differential in health observed in cross-sectional data. In contrast, neither marriage protection nor marriage selection effects were observed for women who were employed full-time. As would be expected, the cross-sectional data show that marital status differentials in health were large and highly significant for women who were not employed, whereas marital status differentials in health were much smaller and often not significant for employed women. Women who were neither married nor employed had particularly poor health. Additional evidence indicates that the women who were neither married nor employed suffered from multiple interacting disadvantages, including poor health, low incomes, and sociodemographic characteristics which contributed to difficulty in obtaining employment.
In Argentina information concerning relatedness of mates, especially first cousins, was introduced into the legal marriage certificate, record, and statistical report in 1968. The 1980-1981 biennial data, including 212,320 legal marriage reports, were analyzed for all of Argentina, subdivided into 22 states and 494 counties. The registered 0.373% of first-cousin marriages allows an estimate of consanguineous marriages of 0.629% and a mean inbreeding coefficient of alpha = 0.00031. This estimate lies between the observed alpha = 0.00011 from hospital births and alpha = 0.00052 from Roman Catholic Church dispensations. These differences are not large, and they may be due to sampling variations, indicating a low rate of inbreeding in Argentina. The frequency of first-cousin marriages in the 22 Argentine states is heterogenous, and 9 counties, representing 5 different regions, were identified as having a high rate of first-cousin marriage. Three of these were previously known as genetic isolates. A second series of data, including all 32,690 legal marriages registered in the state of Buenos Aires during the first half of 1984, showed a frequency of first-cousin marriages of 0.677%. First-cousin mates, compared with non-first-cousin mates, had a higher frequency of both mates being born in the same state of Buenos Aires and similar frequency distributions for age at marriage, single previous marriage status, level of education, and rate of unemployment. It is concluded that legal marriage data on consanguinity is reliable, inexpensive, universal, and enduring. The last two characteristics make them suitable for the survey of geographic clusters and time trends.
The present study aims at understanding the interrelations between consanguineous marriages and marriage payment. The data are collected from three castes inhabiting two regions of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. It is evident from the study that the dowry system is more prevalent among higher castes, while the bride wealth system is more common among the lower castes in the hierarchy. Further, it can be seen that the dowry system is more prevalent in developed regions, while bride-wealth is more common in backward regions. Marriage payment is found to be less common in close kin marriages than in unrelated marriages. Most of the uncle-niece marriages are without any marriage payment, in all the castes. However, most of the matrilateral cross-cousin and patrilateral cross-cousin marriages are also without any marriage payment in the Devanga.
Around the world, populations have experienced shortages of one sex or the other at marriageable ages, as a result of mortality declines. The solutions to this problem vary with the cultural context. Declines in the spousal age difference and increases in dowry payments (India) and polygamy (Africa) are two adjustments to a disequilibrium in the marriage market. We hypothesize that in Brazil the marriage market finds its balance by "recycling" men through highly unstable informal unions. Using census and 1984 survey data, we establish the relationship between a marriage squeeze and the increase in informal marriage. Census data and a competing-risks analysis of marriage choice provide evidence that a marriage squeeze has affected both the chances of marrying at all and the type of marriage entered.
The number of marriages in England and Wales fell to its lowest level for 50 years in 1993 at just under 300 thousand. In addition, the number of marriages which were the first for both partners was the lowest recorded this century. This article examines the trends in marriage, cohabitation, and of living outside a partnership, to provide some background information to the decline in marriage. Seven out of ten first marriages in the early 1990s were preceded by premarital cohabitation, compared with only one in ten in the early 1970s. Of the couples who lived together before marriage, the median duration of premarital cohabitation was about 2 years for those who first married in the early 1990s, compared with about 1 year for those who first married in the early 1970s. Over one in 5 of non-married men and women were cohabiting in 1993, compared with under one in 7 in the mid-1980s. On the basis of these trends which have persisted for a number of years, as well as the growing tendency to live outside a partnership, the incidence of marriage, particularly at the younger ages, seems likely to decline further.
Information on social and family aspects of marriage was obtained from a sample of over a thousand marriages solemnised in England and Wales in 1979. The data include the standard demographic variables concerning the couple and their marriage and also: the day of the week the marriage was celebrated; whether the fathers or relatives of similar surname to the spouses acted as witnesses; the patterns of name usage by brides; the numbers of forenames of the marriage partners and their fathers; and the frequency of bridegrooms having one or more forenames in common with their fathers. The factors are analysed in terms of social class differences as well as in relation to the distance over which marriages range and other demographic characteristics of the partners and their marriage.
This article considers the advent in 1995 of civil marriage in approved premises which was made possible by a new Marriage Act. The growth and characteristics of approved premises marriages which were solemnised in the first 1 3/4 years of the Act are analysed, comparing the patterns of marriage by age, previous marital status and day of the week with those of register office and religious marriages. Finally, an estimate is made of the extent to which the introduction of marriages in approved premises has drawn away marriages which might otherwise have been solemnised in register offices, or with religious ceremonies.
Two different methods devised by Ryder and by Le Bras and Roussel are used "to assess how far the changes in first-marriage rates in England and Wales arise from a shift to marrying at later ages or from a decline in the popularity of formal marriage. The two methods yield consistent results, and indicate that the majority of young people...will continue to marry but that during the 1970s many were postponing marriage. The pattern of cohabitation and prevailing attitudes to marriage are compatible with such a finding. Recent marriage patterns in England and Wales are found to differ from those in France and Sweden." (summary in FRE)
"The effect of the differential tax treatment of married and unmarried couples, the so-called marriage tax, on the rate and timing of [U.S.] marriages is analyzed. Using time-series data, we study the effect of the marriage tax on the fraction of unmarried women over the age of 15 years who marry in each year. We find no effect. We also investigate whether couples shift the timing of their marriage from the end of one year to the beginning of the next year in response to an increase in the marriage tax. We find empirical support for this behavior."
"This paper investigates how education influences marriage behavior in three countries: the United States, West Germany, and former East Germany. Following family economics we postulate that for women a longer education decreases marriage rates both during education (institutional effect) and after the degree has been obtained (human capital effect). For men family economics predicts the delaying institutional effect, too, but the human capital effect is expected to increase marriage rates. Further considerations lead to the additional hypothesis that for younger birth cohorts these sex differences should attenuate.... For the United States and West Germany the observed marriage patterns confirm our hypotheses for the most part. For East Germany, however, we observe different marriage patterns. This was expected because the institutional context in this former socialist country was a very different one." (SUMMARY IN ENG)
In the current study, the attitudes, behaviors and experiences of 26 gay or bisexual men who were married to a woman are examined. Data are provided on childhood family background and experiences, sexual practices with men, reasons for entering marriage, and the "coming out" process. The frequency of childhood sexual experiences was associated with unsafe sexual practices with other men in adulthood. Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were more negative now than at the time of marriage. The two most frequent reasons for marriage were that it seemed natural, and a desire for children and family life. The results support the hypothesis that internalised homophobia is a factor that leads men into mixed-orientation marriages. Cognitive consistency theory is used to explain the eventual marriage breakdown.
"This paper estimates a proportional hazards model for the timing of age at marriage of women in Malaysia. We hypothesize that age at marriage responds significantly to differences in male and female occupations, race, and age. We find considerable empirical support for the relevance of economic variables in determining age at marriage as well as evidence of strong differences in marriage patterns across races."
Fertility rates in Pakistan have remained consistently high over the past three decades. While numerous studies have examined sociodemographic determinants, the role of biological factors, and particularly consanguinity, has received little attention, even though marriage between close biological relatives continues to be the norm in Pakistan. Reproductive behaviour among women in consanguineous (first cousin) and non-consanguineous unions was compared, using data from a 1995 study of multi-ethnic communities in Karachi and the 1990-91 Pakistan Demographic & Health Survey (PDHS). The results show that, although female age at first marriage has been gradually rising in both study samples, women in consanguineous unions married at younger ages and were less likely to use modern contraceptive methods. In the Karachi sample, women in first cousin unions experienced a higher mean number of pregnancies and also reported a higher mean number of children ever born (CEB). However, their mean number of surviving children did not differ from those born to women in non-consanguineous unions, implying higher prenatal and/or postnatal losses in couples related as first cousins. On the other hand, the PDHS showed both lower CEB values for women in consanguineous marriages and a lower number of surviving children. Given the continuing popularity of consanguineous marriage, these findings have important implications for future fertility reduction in Pakistan.
Prior to World War II, the median age at marriage for white men was later than that for African American men. Since World War II, African American men have, on average, married later than white men. A discrete-time hazard model using data from the National Survey of Families and Households was analyzed to explain this racial cross-over in men's timing of marriage. Dramatic increases in the educational attainment of African American parents and the large movement of African Americans out of the South brought about the racial cross-over in the timing of marriage. Increased enrollment in higher education among African American men also contributed to the racial cross-over in the timing of marriage. Although lack of full-time employment and military service delayed marriage, these factors did not contribute to the racial cross-over.
While investigators often have commented about discrepancies in the way a husband and a wife view the same marriage, little attention has been devoted to the implications such discrepancies have for marital and family therapy. As part of a continuing study of the differences between couples who seek marital therapy and those who seek sexual dysfunction therapy, this report examines these two clinical populations on the dimension of discrepant views of the marriage. Our results suggest that overall discrepancy scores may be an important indicator of stress between partners. In particular areas, however, such as rating the quality of the marriage, specific complaints about the marriage, and concerns about male sexual difficulties, marital therapy patients obtained significantly higher discrepancy scores than sexual therapy patients.
The negative picture of mixed-orientation marriages portrayed in previous research is challenged by results from a study and two-year follow-up of a non-clinical sample of 41 spouses representing 30 marriages. Evidence suggests that more recent marriages involving a bisexual are made for positive reasons, rather than as an escape from homosexuality. A comparison of couples in which the homosexual behavior is acknowledged to those in which it is secretive suggests a positive homosexual identity can be developed in the acknowledged situation. Data from a two-year follow-up provide information on the factors which led to the stabilization of such marriages. A schema of developmental crises, decisions, and consequences is presented.