Early Life Transitions of Canadian Women: A Cohort Analysis of Timing, Sequences, and Variations

This paper looks into the timing and sequences of early life transitions of Canadian women using data from the 1995 General Social Survey of Family. Six events occurring in early adulthood are examined: school completion, first job, home-leaving, first cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth. Our analysis of birth cohorts spanning 60 years shows that the biggest changes in timing occurred in school completion and start of work; that the trajectories involving work before marriage have gained popularity among later cohorts; and that education appreciably delays early life transitions.     

Heterogeneity in the Transition to Adulthood: The Cases of Australia, Canada, and the United States

The prolongation and diversification of the transition to adulthood is known to have occurred in all advanced industrialized countries, although to different extents and following different patterns. A number of comparative studies have explored single-events such as leaving the parental home or making the transition to a first birth, but few have examined the transitions to adulthood more holistically by examining multiple events. We do so in this article for Australia, Canada, and the United States. We find that youth in the United States experience a more uniform and shorter transition to adulthood than their peers in Australia or Canada, even though this transition is increasingly prolonged in all three countries. The earlier transition in the United States is mostly due to the concentration of education in traditional school ages, an earlier entry into employment, and to a lesser extent, an earlier and more coordinated transition into marriage and household headship. We argue that the transition to adulthood differs quantitatively and qualitatively since entry into marriage reflects the more traditional values of the United States.     

Entry to Marriage and Cohabitation in Russia, 1985–2000: Trends,Correlates, and Implications for the Second Demographic Transition

Recent decades have witnessed declining marriage rates and increasing cohabitation in Russia. Are these trends short-term responses to the economic and political crises accompanying the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991 or do they represent a longer-term shift driven by ideational changes like those shaping the “second demographic transition” in many developed countries since the 1960s? Our analyses of individual-level rates of entry to first marriage and cohabitation using 3,510 marital histories spanning 1985–2000 from the Survey of Stratification and Migration Dynamics in Russia show that the precise timing of these trends, the patterns of association between marriage and cohabitation rates and individual and contextual covariates, and the relationship between cohabitation and marriage entry mostly confirm the “transition” perspective. However, although Russia’s retreat from marriage, an especially radical departure from historically predominant patterns, involves ideational changes, the mechanisms driving these changes in Russia differ from those identified in accounts of the second demographic transition in other countries.     

Early Union Formation in Canada: Links with Education

This article examines the link between early union formation and education using a new Canadian longitudinal data set, the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). Educational transitions and early union formation occur around the same time in young adulthood, yet the roles of student and conjugal partner are often thought to be incompatible. We examine the effect of two important educational indicators (exit from full-time school and level of achieved education) on the timing of the first conjugal union. In addition, we incorporate several more direct measures of educational commitment. Results from proportional hazard models reveal that exit from full-time school greatly increases the transition to first union, especially marriage. Similarly, obtaining a post-secondary degree/diploma also significantly increases the risk of forming a union, especially for women. More direct measures of educational commitment show that skipping classes in high school has a negative effect on the risk of marriage, but a positive effect on cohabiting unions. A greater aspiration for future education, meanwhile, has a negative impact on union formation in general.     

The Influence of Men��s Income and Employment on Marriage and Cohabitation: Testing Oppenheimer��s Theory in Europe

This article discusses Oppenheimer's theory on marriage timing, reviews the way this theory was received in European demography and family sociology, and develops a new test of the theory using annual panel data from 13 European countries for the period 1994-2001. Several indicators of men's economic status are used, including school enrollment, employment, type of labor contract, work experience, income, and education. Effects of these indicators are estimated for the transition to marriage and cohabitation, as well as for the transition from cohabitation to marriage. Country differences in these effects are examined as well. The evidence provides strong support for the male breadwinner hypothesis on the one hand, and for Oppenheimer's career uncertainty hypothesis on the other. However, the relevance of these hypotheses also depends on the national context, and especially on the way gender roles are divided in a society.     

Marriage Patterns Among Palestinians in Israel

Marriage age among Palestinians in Israel is rising, the proportion of women marrying at very young ages is declining, and the proportion of women never marrying is rising. This study employed a demographic approach to investigate these changes in marriage patterns and their relationship to changes in education and in the availability of mates. Palestinians in Israel are an interesting case in this respect because they are experiencing a rapid decline in fertility concurrent with a rapid increase in education. Using Israeli census data from 1961, 1972, 1983 and 1995, the findings show that while education affected marriage timing among men and women, the availability of mates affected marriage timing only among women. As expected, having no schooling raised the odds of early marriage, and tertiary education lowered them, for both men and women. Tertiary schooling raised the odds of delayed marriage for men and women. For women, the ratio of men to women at marrying age raised the odds of early marriage and lowered the odds of delayed marriage. The continuing increase in education is likely to delay marriage further in the future, and the decline in fertility should result in more balanced sex ratios.     

中国单身女性的困境: 多元交叉的社会压力和歧视

随着中国单身人口比例的上升,单身人群特别是单身女性群体受到了社会各个层面的关注。目前国内对单身女性的研究主要通过深度访谈来探讨单身未婚女性的身心和生活状态,缺乏系统的理论观照,且访谈样本又大都局限于大城市的中产阶层单身未婚女性,因而限制了研究成果的代表性。从交叉性理论出发,分析中国单身女性面临的宏观(儒家文化和人口调控压力)、中观(媒体的形象控制和代际压力)和微观(性别歧视、年龄歧视和单身歧视)的多元交叉压力和歧视,厘清目前单身女性所受到的压力和歧视,从不同阶层单身女性的需求出发,才能为她们提供切实有效的帮助,并有助于解决目前我国单身人口比例上升的问题,缓解人口老龄化的压力。     

Fertility Patterns Among Turkish Women in Turkey and Abroad: The Effects of International Mobility,Migrant Generation,and Family Background

In this paper, we examine the fertility behavior of Turkish women in Europe from a context-of-origin perspective. Women with different migration biographies (first-generation, 1.5-generation, second-generation migrants, and return migrants) are compared with “stayer” women from the same regions of origin in Turkey. This approach provides us with new insights into the study of the effects of international migrations. First-, second-, and third-birth transitions are analyzed using data from the 2000 Families Study, which was conducted in 2010 and 2011 in Turkey and in western Europe. The classical hypotheses of disruption, interrelated events, adaptation, socialization, and selectivity/composition are developed with reference to the context-of-origin perspective. To account for socialization and family-related composition effects, we also look at family characteristics. Our findings provide no support for the disruption hypothesis, but suggest that the first-generation migrant women have higher first-birth risks than the stayers. However, this gap can be fully explained by differences in marriage duration. Differences in composition—namely in educational attainment—account for our finding that the second migrant generation has lower first-birth transition rates than the women in Turkey. Except for the number of siblings, the family influence, including the processes of intergenerational transmission, is minor and hardly accounts for the migrant–stayer differences in birth transitions. Most remarkably, the analyses show that the second- and third-birth risks of almost all of the migrant groups are higher than those of the women in Turkey, when individual and family factors are held constant; which suggests that there is a fertility crossover between the origin and the destination contexts.     

Déstandardisation, différenciation régionale et changements générationnels. Départ du foyer parental et modes de vie en Suisse au XXe siècle

Recent studies on transitions to adulthood have somewhat disregarded the choice of living arrangements after moving out of the parental home. In this article we investigate the leaving home experience of young adults and the way it has changed over time in Switzerland during the 20^th century. Using longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel, we first analyze the timing of the leaving home experience, and then living arrangements through competing risks models. Our findings show that in Switzerland leaving home behaviour varied across cohorts and linguistic regions in terms of timing, type of living arrangement and degree of synchronisation with other transitions to adulthood.     

Stability and Change: The Structuration of Partnership Histories in Canada, the Netherlands, and the Russian Federation

This paper explores stability and change in women's partnership histories since the late 1940s in Canada, the Netherlands, and the Russian Federation. Giddens' (1984) theory of structuration is used to understand how the social structure enables or constrains behaviour. Entire partnership histories are examined by applying a Markov and semi-Markov multistate approach to investigate the type, timing, duration, and complexity of partnerships. Results show earlier union formation for younger cohorts in the Russian Federation compared to postponement trends in the other countries. Cohabitation appears to increasingly serve as an alternative to marriage, particularly in Canada. When facilitated by the social structure, divorce levels are high (Russian Federation, Canada). Widowhood in the Russian Federation persists even among younger women. Re-partnering is the highest in the Russian Federation, with post-marital cohabitation gaining ground in Canada. Partnership histories are increasingly complex in the Netherlands and particularly Canada but remain stable in the Russian Federation.     

婚嫁权力博弈对农村社会变迁的影响——基于四川盐亭、陕西商洛、山东日照的实证研究

随着经济的发展、社会的变迁,农村婚嫁习俗也发生了很大的变化,尤其是婚嫁过程中男女双方权力博弈天平向女方的倾斜使得婚嫁中的男方开始不得不接受女方越来越高的物质要求,而这种婚嫁习俗的变化又反过来很大程度上影响着社会的变迁。城镇化,城市化,还是在原址上的发展,都是深深地打上了婚姻政治的烙印。因此,在当下社会转型的背景下,探究婚姻嫁娶在社会变迁引领中的作用以及其原因,进而寻求有效方式推进农村婚俗向健康的方向发展,必将有助于社会变迁的顺利推进。     

How Similar are Cohabiting and Married Parents? Second Conception Risks by Union Type in the United States and Across Europe

The increase in births within cohabitation in the United States and across Europe suggests that cohabitation and marriage have become more similar with respect to childbearing. However, little is known about additional childbearing after first birth. Using harmonized union and fertility histories from surveys in 15 countries, this study examines second conception risks leading to a live birth for women who have given birth within a union. Results show that women who continue to cohabit after birth have significantly lower second conception risks than married women in all countries except those in Eastern Europe, even when controlling for union duration, union dissolution, age at first birth, and education. Pooled models indicate that differences in the second conception risks by union type between Eastern and Western Europe are significant. Pooled models including an indicator for the diffusion of cohabitation show that when first births within cohabitation are rare, cohabiting women have significantly lower second conception risks than married women. As first births within cohabitation increase, differences in second conception risks for cohabiting and married women narrow. But as the percent increases further, the differentials increase again, suggesting that cohabitation and marriage are not becoming equivalent settings for additional childbearing. However, I also find that in all countries except Estonia, women who marry after first birth have second conception risks similar to couples married at first birth, indicating that the sequence of marriage and childbearing does not matter to fertility as much as the act of marrying itself.     

Fertility Decline During Albania’s Societal Crisis and its Subsequent Consolidation

Cross-sectional comparisons of the decline in fertility in former socialist countries point to a bi-phasic response: a crisis-induced family limitation followed by the postponement of childbearing during economic and political consolidation. In this article, the last two decades of Albania’s fertility transition are documented. The bi-phasic response model is tested in a period analysis of adaptations in marriage and parity-specific fertility to the socio-economic and political transformations since the fall of communist rule. We find that the timing and patterns of changes in Albanian family behaviours generally adhere to the model. Socio-economic differentials and trends are congruent with the major role played by the crisis and structural change. However, the Albanian case also highlights the enduring importance of traditional family formation models during the crisis, as well as among specific subpopulations more recently. These results are discussed with reference to a sociological account of Albanian society.     

中国农村未婚男性的婚姻策略分析

采用2010年"百村个人调查"数据,分析了农村未婚男性对婚娶有婚史女性的态度;研究发现:未婚男性对婚娶有婚史的女性因其在上次婚姻中生育状况的不同而有显著差异;接受有婚史的女性,正成为经济状况差、在初婚市场上处于劣势的男性的婚姻应对策略;但这并不意味着整个男性群体对婚娶有婚史的女性态度的改变。     

The Connections between Family Formation and First-time Home Ownership in the Context of West Germany and the Netherlands

Using data from retrospective life course surveys held in West Germany and the Netherlands in the 1980s and early 1990s, we investigate the interconnections between first partnership, first marriage, and first childbirth, on the one hand, and first-time home ownership, on the other. We consider the temporal connection between events in the family life course and home ownership from various angles, proceeding from survival analyses to analyses of the timing and ordering of the distinct events and a multivariate analysis of the transition to home ownership. We find marked differences between countries and cohorts in this temporal connection.     

Gender,marital status,and body weight in older U.S. adults

Marital terminations are life transitions that may lead to changes in diet, activity, and body weight. This investigation examined how marital status was associated with relative body weight, underweight, overweight, and obesity among men and women in the United States using cross-sectional nationally representative data from the 1992 HRS cohort age 51–61 and the 1993 AHEAD cohort age 70 and older. Results in the HRS cohort revealed that even when adjusting for demographic and behavioral variables, widowed women were significantly more likely to be obese than married women, while men who were never married, divorced, or separated were more likely to be underweight. Results in the AHEAD cohort showed few significant associations between marital status and weight for either men or women when demographics were controlled. Clear gender variations appeared to exist in how marriage is related to body weight among unmarried older adults, with widows in their 50s being obese and divorced/separated/never married men being underweight. However, marital status differences in weight were not present among much older adults of either gender. Jeffery Sobal is a asociologist who is an associate professor at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. He has studied food systems, food choice, and is currently examining social aspects of body weight and obesity, particularly marriage and body weight. Barbara S. Rauschenbach is a sociologist who is a research associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. She has studied food insecurity and food assistance, and is currently examining marital status and body weight.     

Migration during early married life

A one per cent sample drawn from the 1971 Census (the OPCS Longitudinal Study) was used to study the migration patterns of women in the early years of first marriage. Information from the retrospective fertility and migration history contained in the 1971 Census record was analyzed and the results show migration at, or soon after, marriage to be almost universal. Marriage migrants constituted a quarter of all one-year within-county movers and a fifth of inter-regional movers among women aged 16–29. In the early years of marriage differentials in migration rates according to duration of marriage were greater than differentials associated with age or with husband's change of occupation. The pattern of migration around marriage varied according to a number of socio-economic factors. The timing of the first and subsequent births early in marriage was found to have little effect on migration rates once allowance for duration of marriage was made in the analysis. The results of the study demonstrate the value of the OPCS Longitudinal Study as a source of migration data.     

十五年来中国女性择偶标准的变化

目的：描述中国女性自1985年以来择偶标准的现状和变迁，分析影响女性择偶标准的各种主要因素及其影响程度。方法：《中国妇女》杂志1985年至2000年15年间每隔5年选择一年，并在每一季度中选择一期杂志，统计其中女性刊登的征婚启事，总共得到13l例。采用统计学方法进行定量研究。结果：女性择偶时仍旧最为关注男方的社会经济条件，但是体现社会经济条件的具体内容有所变化，表现为对男方学历和职业的关注稍有下降，而对财产、事业的要求有所上升；同时对对方身高的要求有所下降，体现目前择偶趋向于实惠化趋势。对对方修养、人品的要求呈上升趋势，体现女性婚恋观念的改变和提高。     

论夫权占优婚姻习俗及其主要影响

现代婚姻家庭普遍存在夫权占优的婚姻习俗,即丈夫享有比妻子更多的婚姻资源支配权．主要包含：婚姻主导权、优先发展权、家产控制权、家务豁免权、家庭符号权、子女冠姓权．部分丈夫还巧取了优先出轨权、强行施暴权等。妻子群体在婚姻家庭中普遍不平等的地位决定了女性个体在父母家庭、职场与社会领域中的不平等待遏。它的存在有历史、现实和环境等方面的因素。要建立夫妻平权的婚姻家庭文化,应当从“男娶女嫁”的婚礼走向平等结婚,从“子女随父姓”走向夫妻平等分享子女冠姓权,从“男主外,女主内”走向平等承担家务,并营造平等的社会性别语境,完善相关社会制度。     

Marriage risks,cohabitation and premarital births in Canada

The transition that has occurred in the Canadian family is one of the important changes of recent decades. Fewer women are marrying and many more are delaying marriage. This paper is an attempt to examine the trends in union formation among various cohorts and to identify some of the socio-demographic correlates of marital timing. The data for this study are taken from the Canadian Fertility Survey of 1984. The results indicate that there is no immediate crisis for the family in Canada, but that many are choosing cohabitation as a preferred mode of first union formation at early stages. Young women (below 25 years of age), residents of large metropolitan areas, those with a university education and those with low religious commitment are more likely than others to be delayers of marriage.L'un des changements sociaux importants de ces dernières décennies est la transition qui s'est produite dans la famille, au Canada. Moins de femmes se marient et elles diffèrent de plus en plus leur mariage. Cet article examine les tendances dans la constitution des unions pour les diverses cohortes et met en corrélation le calendrier du mariage avec certaines caractéristiques socio-démographiques. Les résultats montrent que l'on n'est pas pour le moment dans une période de crise pour la famille, mais que beaucoup de jeunes femmes choisissent la cohabitation comme un moyen préférentiel de première constitution des unions. Les jeunes femmes de moins de 25 ans, résidant dans de grandes métropoles, ayant une formation universitaire et ayant une faible pratique religieuse, diffèrent, plus que les autres, leur mariage.