IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v52y2015i6p1869-1892.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in the Determinants of Marriage Entry in Post-Reform Urban China

Author

Listed:
  • Jia Yu
  • Yu Xie

Abstract

Using population intercensus and national survey data, we examine marriage timing in urban China spanning the past six decades. Descriptive analysis from the intercensus shows that marriage patterns have changed in China. Marriage age is delayed for both men and women, and prevalence of nonmarriage became as high as one-quarter for men in recent birth cohorts with very low levels of education. Capitalizing on individual-level survey data, we further explore the effects of demographic and socioeconomic determinants of entry into marriage in urban China over time. Our study yields three significant findings. First, the influence of economic prospects on marriage entry has significantly increased during the economic reform era for men. Second, the positive effect of working in the state-owned sector has substantially weakened. Third, educational attainment now has a negative effect on marriage timing for women. Taken together, these results suggest that the traditional hypergamy norm has persisted in China as an additional factor in the influences of economic resources on marriage formation. Copyright Population Association of America 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Jia Yu & Yu Xie, 2015. "Changes in the Determinants of Marriage Entry in Post-Reform Urban China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1869-1892, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:52:y:2015:i:6:p:1869-1892
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-015-0432-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-015-0432-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-015-0432-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu Xie & James Raymo & Kimberly Goyette & Arland Thornton, 2003. "Erratum to: “Economic Potential and Entry Into Marriage and Cohabitation”," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 1-1, May.
    2. Linda Waite & Glenna Spine, 1981. "Young women’s transition to marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(4), pages 681-694, November.
    3. Christine Schwartz & Robert Mare, 2005. "Trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(4), pages 621-646, November.
    4. Gould, Eric D. & Paserman, M. Daniele, 2003. "Waiting for Mr. Right: rising inequality and declining marriage rates," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 257-281, March.
    5. Shang-Jin Wei & Xiaobo Zhang, 2011. "The Competitive Saving Motive: Evidence from Rising Sex Ratios and Savings Rates in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 511-564.
    6. Samuel Preston & Alan Richards, 1975. "The influence of women’s work opportunities on marriage rates," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 12(2), pages 209-222, May.
    7. Wu, Jing & Gyourko, Joseph & Deng, Yongheng, 2012. "Evaluating conditions in major Chinese housing markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 531-543.
    8. Yu Xie & James Raymo & Kimberl Goyette & Arland Thornton, 2003. "Economic potential and entry into marriage and cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 351-367, May.
    9. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-846, July-Aug..
    10. Thornton, Arland & Axinn, William G. & Xie, Yu, 2007. "Marriage and Cohabitation," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226798660, October.
    11. Matthijs Kalmijn, 2013. "The Educational Gradient in Marriage: A Comparison of 25 European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1499-1520, August.
    12. Lynn White, 1981. "A note on racial differences in the effecty of female economic opportunity on marriage rates," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(3), pages 349-354, August.
    13. Becker, Gary S, 1974. "A Theory of Marriage: Part II," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages 11-26, Part II, .
    14. Maurice MacDonald & Ronald Rindfuss, 1981. "Earnings, relative income, and family formation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 18(2), pages 123-136, May.
    15. James Raymo, 2003. "Educational attainment and the transition to first marriage among Japanese women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(1), pages 83-103, February.
    16. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "A Theory of Marriage," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 299-351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Valerie Oppenheimer & Matthijs Kalmijn & Nelson Lim, 1997. "Men’s career development and marriage timing during a period of rising inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, August.
    18. Coughlin Tristan P. & Drewianka Scott D, 2011. "Can Rising Inequality Explain Aggregate Trends in Marriage? Evidence from U.S. States, 1977-2005," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-33, January.
    19. Christine Schwartz, 2010. "Pathways to educational homogamy in marital and cohabiting unions," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 735-753, August.
    20. Logan, John Allen & Hoff, Peter D. & Newton, Michael A., 2008. "Two-Sided Estimation of Mate Preferences for Similarities in Age, Education, and Religion," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103, pages 559-569, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arif A. Mamun, 2006. "The White Picket Fence Dream: Effects of Assets on the Choice of Family Union," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 01ccaca54ad44dc89c4f3f393, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. Muzhi Zhou & Xiaogang Wu & Guangye He, 2017. "Marriage in an immigrant society: Education and the transition to first marriage in Hong Kong," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(18), pages 567-598.
    3. Pilar Gonalons-Pons & Christine R. Schwartz, 2017. "Trends in Economic Homogamy: Changes in Assortative Mating or the Division of Labor in Marriage?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 985-1005, June.
    4. Junhong Chu & Haoming Liu & I. P. L. Png, 2018. "Nonlabor Income and Age at Marriage: Evidence From China’s Heating Policy," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2345-2370, December.
    5. Du, Qingyuan & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2013. "A theory of the competitive saving motive," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 275-289.
    6. Ingela Alger & Donald Cox, 2013. "The evolution of altruistic preferences: mothers versus fathers," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 421-446, September.
    7. Nie, Haifeng & Xing, Chunbing, 2019. "Education expansion, assortative marriage, and income inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 37-51.
    8. Du, Qingyuan & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2016. "A Darwinian perspective on “exchange rate undervaluation”," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 111-138.
    9. Joelle Abramowitz, 2014. "Turning back the ticking clock: the effect of increased affordability of assisted reproductive technology on women’s marriage timing," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 603-633, April.
    10. Fletcher, Jason M. & Polos, Jessica, 2017. "Nonmarital and Teen Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 10833, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Ling Zhang & Xiaodong Tan, 2021. "Educational Assortative Mating and Health: A Study in Chinese Internal Migrants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    12. David McClendon & Janet Kuo & R. Raley, 2014. "Opportunities to Meet: Occupational Education and Marriage Formation in Young Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1319-1344, August.
    13. Kota Ogasawara & Erika Igarashi, 2021. "The Impacts of the Gender Imbalance on the Marriage Market: Evidence from World War II in Japan," Papers 2102.00687, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    14. Shoichi Sasaki, 2014. "An empirical analysis of the effect of increasing male wage inequality on female marriage behavior in Japan," Discussion Papers 1401, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    15. Erzsébet Bukodi, 2012. "Serial Cohabitation among Men in Britain: Does Work History Matter? [Cohabitations successives des hommes en Angleterre : l’histoire professionnelle joue-t-elle un rôle ?]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 28(4), pages 441-466, November.
    16. Alger, Ingela & Cox, Donald, 2020. "Evolution of the Family: Theory and Implications for Economics," TSE Working Papers 20-1139, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    17. Jona Schellekens & David Gliksberg, 2018. "The Decline in Marriage in Israel, 1960–2007: Period or Cohort Effect?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 119-142, February.
    18. Luc Arrondel & Nicolas Frémeaux, 2016. "‘For Richer, For Poorer’: Assortative Mating and Savings Preferences," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(331), pages 518-543, July.
    19. Fatemeh Torabi & Angela Baschieri, 2010. "Ethnic differences in transition to first marriage in Iran," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(2), pages 29-62.
    20. Fenaba Addo, 2014. "Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1677-1701, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:52:y:2015:i:6:p:1869-1892. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.