C HANGING P ATTER NS OF MARRIAG E : [page 128]

 Marri age pat t erns are oft en i nvol ved by seri al m onogam y (peopl e can m arry ,di vorce
and rem arry).
 It m akes sim pl e com pari son bet ween t he past and present
 It i s l ess rel i abl e because we m ay be count i ng the sam e peopl e m ore t han once
[m eani ng t hat t he sam e person m ay m arry wi t h anot her person causi ng t hem t o be
count ed i n agai n]
 Marri age st ati st i cs t el l us som et hi ng about general m arri age pat t erns
 R aw num bers -> are useful & al so sensi t i ve t o popul at i on changes
- The l arger t he popul at i on, t he hi gher the num ber of pot ent i al m arri ages.
- It i s bet t er to l ook at m arri age rat es whi ch i s som et hi ng t hat we can com pare wi t h
ot her European count ri es.
 Al t hough t here has been a consi st ent decl i ne i n m arri age and a st eady decl i ne i n fi rst
m arri age , thi s has been offset t o som e ext ent by rem arri ag es,
- It i s peaked i n t he 1980s and have si nce sl owl y decl i ned , but as a percent age of
al l marri ages (rem arryi ng has doubl ed i n the past 50 years
 C ause of mari t al changes
- Expl anat i on for m ari t al changes fal l int o t wo broad groups
1. The general decl i ne can be expl ai ned by demographi c changes rat her than a
change in peopl e’s behavi or
 Marri age i n the UK was m ost popul ar aft er WW2 and duri ng t he
1970s.
 Duri ng these t im es, there was a ‘baby boom ’ (when a great er than
averag e num ber of babi es were born over a rel at i vel y short t im e)
 The 2 n d worl d war had rest ri ct ed a l ot of coupl es from st art i ng a
fam i l y
 B y t he 1950s t he averag e span for fam i l y com pl et i on (from 1 s t t o
l ast chi l d) was a hi st ori cal l y short 10 years.
 Fami l y compressi on produces a popul ati on bul ge ̶ a rapi d incre ase i n
t he no. of chi l dren.
 In som e way t o expl ai n bot h an increas e i n m arri age and chi l dbi rt h
duri ng t he 1950s & t he num bers m arryi ng i n t he 1970s and 80s as
t he ‘baby boom generat i on’ reach ed adul t hood.
 A rel at ed expl anat i on i s t hat som e age groups (cohort ) are m ore
l i kel y t han ot hers to m arry.
 Meani ng t hat there are ‘peak peri ods’ in m arri age (t he age range
where m arri age i s m ore l i kel y t o occur
e.g. Hughes (2009) report s that in 1977 t he average age at …

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